Nobody's Fearless
by I-Breached-UR-Security
Summary: Last Halloween a prank that went horribly wrong upturned Odd and Ulrich's lives. Everyone, including their old friends, thinks they're murderers, and they find solace only in Kadic's group of resident outcasts. "Sometimes you have to learn to be afraid."
1. The Outcast

**I haven't gotten a lot of the plot to this worked out, but I feel bad about leaving you guys hanging on Confessions of Kiley Trace, so I'm writing a new story!! Yay!! As always, I do not, in any way, shape, or form, own Code: Lyoko or any songs I may use in here. I do own my original characters, and any original works I may put in here. This will have OCs in it, so if you don't like them, suck it up or read somebody else's story. OXOC and UXOC and WXYXUXOC lol. This is for have-a-cookie, for being awesome. =]**

Ulrich stepped out of the car. He wasn't a flight risk, so they'd let his parent drive him to school. His mother cried a lot; his father wouldn't speak to him. Odd's parents were so ashamed, they wouldn't even take him, so he'd sat in the backseat with Ulrich on the long, painful ride to Kadic Academy.

_They're letting us back in here?_ Ulrich thought bitterly. As soon as the gates opened, every bit of chatter stopped, and pairs of eyes- too large in numbers to begin counting- turned to them. Each stare accusing, each student at Kadic Academy completely unforgiving. The silence was gut-wrenching. All the schoolyard lacked was a tumbleweed rushing past in the breeze, its twigs crackling. _Six months in Juvenile Hall, and now I want to go back._

He and Odd walked across the grounds, toward the office. Odd's eyes were on the ground and the corners of his mouth twitched, but he had no jokes left in him. Ulrich glanced at the group. Well, what was left of the group. It was now just Yumi, Jeremie, William, and Aelita. None of them were acknowledging he and Odd. The one letter he'd received the entire time he sat on a hard bed and rotted across from his bunkmate, Steve, was from Aelita. It said she was sorry, but Jeremie thought it was best that when they returned, they shouldn't speak to each other anymore. Also that William had joined, and he and Yumi were official. Steve had tried to make a joke out of it, but Ulrich's little heart was broken, at the time, beyond repair. He was over it, by then. If Yumi wouldn't listen to his side of the story, she'd miss out. **Go Ulrich! That's the way to think!!! =]**

When they reached the office, the lady behind the counter wasn't the same person. This one had dark hair; her smile froze on her face when she saw who it was, but nevertheless, she shook her head and asked, "Ulrich Stern? Odd Della Rhobbia?"

"Yes," they replied in unison.

"No one went in your room, except a girl named Aelita Stones. I believe she's your friend? She said you had a kiwi plant in there that would die if she didn't take care of it," the woman handed the boys each a key. "My name is Ms. Frazier, by the way, but you can call me Ms. F. The last secretary retired."

"Thank you," Odd replied, and they turned and left. The other children spoke in hushed whispers, but steered clear of the two. Even Sissi left them alone, and Ulrich enjoyed the new peace, but at the same time, he missed his friends. He missed Yumi telling him that William was just a friend. He missed laughing at Nicholas and Herb's crazy ideas. He missed _Yumi_. Six months in that kind of confinement, and you had time to miss everything.

He looked at them out of the corner of his eye. Aelita was looking at them mournfully. She'd made it clear that she didn't blame them, but she couldn't leave the group or else risk the world (coughLyokocough). Jeremie's face was buried in his laptop, Yumi was pointedly looking at William, who had an arm around her and was sending them a withering glare.

Ulrich was grateful when the doors to the dorm building closed behind them. The halls were deserted and their footsteps echoed. Odd glanced at him. They didn't speak. They hadn't spoken more than twice in the last six months, and on those occasions they could only get a few words in. Ulrich created a timeline in his head; the prank had occured on Halloween, but the woman didn't die until mid-February. The trial ended on March 26th, and they were enrolled in Juvenile Hall on March 31st. Today was August 23rd, thier first day of eighth grade and they'd spent their last morning in Juvie.

The moment the door closed behind them, Kiwi jumped from his drawer and into Odd's arms, licking at his face, yipping with delight. Odd commented, "I'll have to thank Aelita for feeding him." Pause. "Or not."

Ulrich didn't say anything. What was there to say? "I'm going to the bathroom." (They'd both taken cold showers at the Hall that morning. He hoped no one was out. It was only seven, and school wouldn't start until 8:25. He walked slowly, delibrately, wishing everyone would just forget about _everything_. But of course no one would.

Who would've thought that a Halloween prank could go so wrong? Ulrich wasn't even into that kind of thing, but the _one_ time he'd let Odd convince him to go, it tore his life apart and then shoved it back in his face.

A hand grabbed his elbow. He froze, then relaxed, and turned slowly. A girl with blond hair and brown eyes dressed in a short black shorts, a pink tee shirt with a black vest over it, and a pair of black leggings with pink polka dots on them was standing behind him. _Gwen Stephens_, Ulrich thought. _A member of Kadic's less-popular crowd._ **No, she is not the UXOC character. XD** Her blond hair was cut choppy and her eyeliner was too thick, but she was the first friendly face he'd seen all day, so he ignored it.

"Hey, Gwen."

She smiled slightly. "Hey, Ulrich. Just wanted to tell you, you're welcome at our table." By 'our table' she meant the table in the far corner opposite the Lyoko gang.

"Thanks," Ulrich smiled for the first time in a week and a half. "We appreciate it." On his way back from the bathroom, he thought about that group. He didn't know all of them, just Gwen, Jay, and Tiffany. Gwen was Kadic's resident talent; everyone knew her. She won the talent show every year. Jay had once been his partner for Phys. Ed. and Odd had always given Tiffany a hard time. Once when he'd seen her crying, he'd made a comment about her eyeliner running. They later found out that one her friends had died. Odd felt bad about it, but he never apologized. _Sometimes he's just cruel._

When he reached the room he shared with Odd, he announced, "We have a lunch date."

"Like any girl's going to want to date us _now_."

"Not one girl in particular," Ulrich replied. "The group of **(1)**scene kids in the corner of the room."

"I don't feel like making fun of Tiffany today."

"Then don't. Try being _nice_ to her." He paused. "Look, Odd, it's becoming heart-breakingly clear that they're not going to forgive us. At least not any time soon."

"I know," Odd replied. "I'm sorry, Ulrich. This is my fault."

"Yes, it is. Now come on, class is starting soon."

Since they'd been a last minute addition to all their classes, they had the exact same schedule. The first class, History, was awful. Sissi, who sat next to Ulrich, kept giving him dirty looks and scoffing, and the teacher was blatantly cold to them. Gwen sat behind them and next to Odd, and her reassuring smiles made him feel less alone.

Ulrich discovered that his first five periods he either had a class with Gwen or a class with Tiffany. After 5th period physics was over, Tiffany Trace **the OXOC char!! whooo!** led them to the lunchroom. She hair that was red and black layered hair and green eyes. She was wearing a black 3OH!3 concert T-Shirt and a pair of tight, light skinny jeans with names written all over them in Sharpie, but she never held still long enough for him to read them. She'd cut a hole in the back pocket in the shape of a star and then put a light blue bandanna inside the pocket. Her skater shoes were black and the laces were light blue and bar-laced. Her eyeliner was also too thick, but she seemed friendly enough, even though she wouldn't look at Odd.

The room was quiet, simply because there was only a girl and a boy, who were sitting at their new table. He'd never met them; noting that they didn't have trays, he remembered seeing them at lunch, never eating, just talking. That was probably why all the girls were thin. He and Odd went to get trays, and the lunch lady's eyes settled lovingly on Odd.

"There's been so many leftovers since you've been away," she announced.

"Won't be a problem anymore, ma'am!" Odd replied cheerily. It was the happiest Ulrich has seen him in a long time. They returned to their new table together.

The girl was pretty, and Ulrich's eyes lingered on her longer than they would have regularly. She was dressed in a black love sleeve with a neon purple spaghetti strap underneath it and a short black silk skirt that was neon purple on the inside. She wore a pair of knee-high toe socks that were black and neon purple striped. A black chain choker-necklace was around her throat and she wore a pair of black flip-flops. She was pretty, but like every other girl in that group, her eyeliner was too thick. Her hair was long and dark and it hung in her face a lot, and when he looked at her eyes he found them a stunning shade of blue. She was the only "goth" one in the group, because the rest of the kids were scene. There used to be another goth, but she'd died, and he couldn't remember her name.

The boy wore simpler, tight scene clothing, but he looked friendly and had black hair and brown eyes.

"Hey guys," Tiffany smiled at her friends. "Odd, Ulrich, this is Tabby and Trey."

"My name is not Trey," he hissed at her, and she laughed. "My friends call me Sparky."

"Cuz his last name is Sparks," Tabby explained, her head in one hand. "Stop standing. It makes me feel short." Ulrich and Odd sat down. Gwen entered the room that moment with Jay and another boy and realized that Jay and Gwen were twins. He hadn't made the connection until he saw them standing next to each other. Same blond hair, same brown eyes, and they walked the same way. The other boy had dark hair and gray eyes, and they introduced him as Mikey James.

Other people had begun filing in, so the cafeteria was getting louder. He saw his old friends sit down. A feeling of remorse choked his throat a moment when he saw Yumi and William, laughing about something or other. Aelita was talking to Jeremie, as if trying to convince him of something, but Jeremie wasn't budging. Ulrich sighed, and turned back to his "new" friends.

"So, Ulrich," Tabby's blue eyes locked on his, her head still in her hand. She had the whole 'everyone-bores-me-to-death' attitude, and it was showing in the careless way she asked, "How exactly did your Halloween prank land you in Juvie?"

Ulrich drew in his breath. Just the question he'd been dreading. "Don't you know? I figured the papers covered it."

"Like the newspapers would deliver the _truth_," she rolled her eyes. "What _really_ happened that night?"

Ulrich sighed inwardly. If he was going to fit in with these new friends of theirs, he was going to have to explain it eventually. Why not now?

**(1) "Scene" is a style. It's almost like a girly-gothic kinda thing. I can't really explain it. Just go to photobucket and then look up "gothic girls" and then look up "scene girls" and you'll see the difference.**

**Hah!!! You don't know what the praaaaaaank is. MAYBE I'll explain it next chapter... depends on how many reviews I get... =] So go review!**


	2. Last All Hallows Eve

**I'm sorry this took soooo long. =[ But I've been away and I didn't have access to a computer that I could type on. The only reason I updated my other story is that I already had the chapter uploaded and I used my brother's PSP. But it's here now, even though it's long overdue. Thank you to my reviewers!! All five of you are appreciated!! =D**

**Oh, and a special note: I think I might be rewriting the Run From Time Trilogy, but I'm posting up a poll on my profile asking if I should. If you haven't read it, please don't. It's really really bad. XD So yeahh.**

**And also, I was rather amazed about how everyone flipped over the prank. It wasn't even THAT big a part of the story.**

When Odd sat down, he immediately began to eat his food. He'd never realized how much he missed the food from the cafeteria until he was actually eating it.

"You're name's Odd, right?" Mikey asked, his brown eyes intent. **I love that name. V.V**

"Yeah," Odd paused his eating, but only for a moment.

"Congratulations on officially getting a record." He smiled, but Odd didn't think it was funny. "No offense. A lot of us have one. Except Tiffany and Jay. They _never_ get caught."

"Whadja do?"

"Shoplifting. But I guess when they charge seventy dollars for a pair of shoes, some are bound to go missing." He half laughed. "I was the on that they caught, though. It was hysterical; Tiffany and Jay were laughing at me from thirty feet away 'cuz' I got tackled by a security gaurd. They let me off easy because he broke my arm."

Odd couldn't help but laugh. He glanced at Tiffany, sitting on Mikey's right. She had her fingers interlaced and was resting her chin on top of them. It was like she was praying because her eyes were closed, but at the same time Odd could tell she wasn't.

"Hello?" Odd waved a hand in front of her face.

She opened her green eyes and took a headphone out of her ear, and he realized she'd been listening to her Mp3 player. "Hmm?"

"I thought you fell aslepp," he answered. He wasn't used to seeing so much eyeliner around a girl's eyes. (He wasn't even used to talking to girls, but still.) She didn't respond. Instead she put her earphone back in and rested her forehead on the table, arms around her head.

"She's not fond of you," Mikey observed.

"Yeah, I know, I'm a jerk," Odd was starting to feel a little guilty. It was so easy to pick on someone when you're seen, through most eyes, as better than them. He didn't understand why everyone talked to these people like they were different, because on the inside, they really were the same. And now that he was at Tiffany's level, it seemed to cruel.

Anywho, Odd heard Tabby ask the question, and he heard Ulrich pause before he started to explain it. It was still fresh in his memory, even though it had happened a month or two shy of a year before.

_"Where _is_ everyone?" Odd whined. "I thought at least the gothic kids would show up."_

_"It's Halloween, Odd. That's their night. And everyone's at the dance," a boy remarked._

A lot of the boys at Kadic were going to get in on it, but at the end only four showed up. The rest were at the Halloween dance. Since there was hardly anyone there, Odd had convinced Ulrich to join them. Ulrich hadn't wanted to go (he was worried about what kind of progress William would make on Yumi at the dance if he wasn't there). The actual prank itself had been simple: just dress up in ripped formal clothing, smear yourself with blood, and scare the little kids into thinking you were a zombie. If they dropped their candy, that was a bonus. It was almost funny now; Odd was totally into it, and Ulrich had lagged behind, half-heartedly called "Roar." Anyway, the people broke off into groups of two, and Odd and Ulrich had walked off into the city. Odd jumped out at some third grader, who shrieked and ran into the street. Some skidding tires, several screams, and about a million looks of horror later, and some old lady had crashed into a tree. Ulrich called 911, and the terrified third grader walked away without a scratch. She was in a coma until she died on February 14. Her name was Wanda Smithson.

"Hey, Todd," Sparky turned to him. **I love that name, too. I'm going to name my next dog that. XD**

"My name's Odd."

"Oh, sorry. You know what classes we're signing up for?" The afternoon classes were to be generated by the computer after students entered in their choices, a language and a phys. ed. The classes were now a lot bigger and there were more teachers because a nearby academy had burned down.

"The last two periods? I'm thinking of taking the swimming class and Spanish."

"Close. We're all signing up for soccer and Spanish," he grinned. "Or you can wind up in a class without anybody."

"I guess I'm taking Spanish and soccer, then." **I'm aware it's called football in other countries. Deal. With. It.**

**Anywayyyyzzz, later, after lunch...**

Each student had to enter in which classes they wanted into a computer, and then the computer would place them in the appropriate class (this was determined not only by the student's interest, but also by their grade point average, ability to learn at the pace of the class, and class size). After a short wait in line that felt a lot longer than it was, Odd typed in soccer for his gym and Spanish for his language. A half hour later, they were all handed the schedules the new computers had printed, and Odd was slightly startled to find that he had gotten soccer and Japanese. _Guess they ran out of room._

Throughout the day, having been surrounded by his new friends, Odd was unprepared for the brutality of the other teens during the scrimmage game. Jim, who had gotten the soccer class, was fair, but he was constantly tackled and fouled. At some point, Sissi kicked the ball and hit Gwen on the side of her face. Pointedly laughing, she turned to walk away, but Tabby picked up the ball and chucked it as hard as she could. **I'm basing her personality on that of my friend's, and this is exactly what she'd do. =]** It made a solid connection witht he back of Sissi's head.

"Slover! Detention!"

Tabby ignored him and started talking to Gwen, who had a bruise steadily forming on her right cheek.

When phys. ed. was over, the strange group of kids exchanged cell numbers (Odd and Ulrich's cellphones had been in their room the whole time) and Odd and TIffany headed in the opposite direction of the school as the rest of thier sort-of group.

Gor a few minutes, neither of them spoke, then Tiffany announced, "You know, just 'cuz' you're a loser now doesn't mean I have to talk to you."

"Yeah, I know. I'm a jerk," he announced again, hands in his pocket. It was all he could think of to say.

She sighed. "It's a lot harder to be mean to you since I'm kinda stuck with you for a while." Sissi stepped in front of her, and she turned her attention toward that. "Move."

"Oh, you're not _that_ desperate for friends, are you, Tiff?" She asked. "He did kill someone, ya know."

"Really, that's _so_ cool!" Tiffany replied sarcastically. "Now move."

"Okay, but I wouldn't let him follow you around for long if I were you."

"Thank God you're not me, because then I'd have to kill myself," Tiffany grumbled back, and Odd tried to suppress a laugh while Sissi, shooting a glance at them distastefully, waltzed off to avoid Nicholas and Herb, who were apparently searching for her.

"You are you hanging out with that guy instead of _us_?" Nicholas asked, a grin on his nerdy face. "We at least didn't kill anyone."

"Bite me, dork." She replied cheerily. She spoke to Odd again. "You know, you look really funny next to me. Like a barney-wannabe."

"I thought you said it was harder to be mean to me!" Odd was taken aback.

"Harder- not impossible." She gave a smile. It was almost cute, but he pushed the disturbing thought out of his mind. He couldn't help thinking she was different than he'd thought she would be. He almost laughed. He had so many jokes gathering dust in his closet. He'd have to let one out as soon as the chance ocurred.

They walked into their new language class, and Tiffany dragged him to the seat in the back left corner of the room. Glares followed him the whole way; some for a freak, some for a murder. Odd didn't notice the Teacher walk to the front of the room and write "Mrs. Akanawa" on the board. He was too busy looking Yumi, who was avoiding his gaze and sitting next to William on the opposite corner of the room. _Ulrich must be really broken up. I'll try and cheer him up later._

Tiffany elbowed him and he pretended to be paying attention to the teacher. She seemed rather free-spirited; she was wearing a pair of jeans, for instance, and a silk purple blouse that made her look somewhat professional. She had dark hair and bright, dark eyes, and she was quite obviously Japanese. "First, I would like to introduce you to greeting words." Odd heard a phone vibrate, and Tiffany took her red and black keyboard-style phone into her lap. Before he had a chance to read the screen, she hit reply and typed: "lyk a d8?" She bit her lower lip to keep from laughing.

He felt a small flame of jealousy burning in his throat, but he swallowed it. He glanced at her screen again when there was another vibration, and it read: "exactly." The little fire was back again, this time in his stomach, but he ignored it. She texted "kk ill tell odd." Then opened a new message.

He took his phone out of his pocket, praying no one heard it go off.

"I didn't hear a cellphone," Mrs. Akanawa announced, pointedly looking in the opposite direction of the two.

Odd smiled and read the new message. "fairs in town on saturday. coming with?" He accepted her invitation.

About halfway through the lesson, the lights flickered on and off. Odd had a hint of suspicion at the back of his mind, and somebody screamed. He turned his head and saw a girl with chords wrapped around her ankles. The chords were wriggling and writhing like snakes, as if they were alive, and they were connected to one of the computers in the back of the room.

William and Yumi jumped up, and William shot him a look of malice before they ran out of the room. He knew better than to follow.

**Sorry this is so late!!! I'm hoping a little bit of Tabby and Tiffany's personalities showed in there. Thanks for reading. You mights as well review. :P**


	3. Guilty

**It's been too long, hasn't it? Sorry!**

The lights flicked off and stayed off, and Tiffany jumped up as a lamp attacked her. Odd threw a kick at it, but its chord wrapped around her wrist. She grunted and pulled at it, yelling something about a superstition she should've listened to. He finally, after about a minute, managed to unravel it and pry it off her arm. Chords were suprisingly strong.

"What- the- hell-!" She enunciated each word with a stomp of her foot on top of the lamp.

"Come on!" He grabbed her wrist and dragged her out the door. The other kids were all screaming and fighting the classroom appliances.

"What's going on?"

"I have absolutely no idea!" He panted back. "We have to get somewhere that doesn't have anything electrical!"

"Uhm- what- what about-" She was cut off because Odd jerked her out of the way of someone's cellphone that had come to life, turned inside out, and aimed its sharp gears, looking for someone to stab them into. Stomping on top of it, crushing it, she yelled, "Unko!**(1)**" and took out her cellphone and Mp3 player out of her pocket and threw them at the wall.

"Here," he took her wrist again and dragged her into a nearby janitorial closet.

"Were you just trying to get me alone with you?"

"No," he answered indignantly.

She yelped when the light flicked on and off before it exploded, small shards of glass raining down on them. Then they were in complete silence and darkness, with so little room that they couldn't stand shoulder-to-shoulder.

Tiffany finished gasping for breath and asked, "How long are we going to be stuck in here?"

"I don't know," he replied. There was silence for a few moments, and then she slid to the floor and sighed. Odd sat across from her, thier knees pressed together. She knew her eyeliner was running, but she didn't bother to fix it. It was too dark to see it, and the only person who would've seen it was Odd, who didn't matter. She'd had a crush on him in fifth grade, but after she'd changed her style he'd started talking down at her. Ever since then, she'd gotten used to the stupid comments people made. Tabby, her current best friend, had just told her to snap something back and walk away. That's why the closet made her uncomfortable; she kept expecting Odd to verbally assault her and she'd have nowhere to go.

Then Odd couldn't handle the utter silence, so he asked, "You moved here in fourth grade, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"Where were you before that?"

"Homeschooled."

"Was it hard coming to a school?"

"No. I had Allianah."

_Allianah Fray._ She was that girl that had died. The school had held a memorial service, but no one had showed up. She got sick or something. "How did she die?"

"Look," Tiffany's voice was slightly shaky, like when she was having trouble controlling it. He must have hit a nerve. "As much as I'd love to sit here and play twenty questions with you, I'm a little concerned for my friends right now and you're voice is kind of annoying."

Stung, Odd shut up. _I'm such a bitch._ She hated herself instantly. He'd just wanted to know. But she also felt that he didn't have a right to concern himself with matters like Allianah, and he'd lost the privelege the day after she died when he called to her, "Tiffany! You're eyeliner's all smeared! Is you're soul leaking out of your eyes again?" Not something she wanted to hear the day after she buried her best friend.

Her anger was building up, and she squeezed her knees until her knuckles turned white. Seething, she resisted the urge to kick him in the teeth. And after she'd calmed herself down, a white beam of light enveloped them and she couldn't remember a thing.

**Sorta kinda before, except after becuase this is right after the last class...**

That afternoon, Mikey offered to walk her to her dorm, and she accepted, closing the door behind her. Tabby was already there, at the desktop computer, as usual.

"How was your day?"

"Lame," she rolled her eyes, dropping her black messenger bag next to her bed. "You?"

"I've had worse. You can tell by the way he looks at her that Ulrich's still hung up on Yumi."

"Aw, does the unbreakable wall have a leak?"

"Shut up."

"Yes, it does," Tiffany landed on the bed, staring up at the Hollywood Undead poster she'd taped to the roof. "You look funny next to him. They dress weird."

"Please. Odd was following you around like a lost puppy-dog."

"Gross. I don't date idiots like him." But secretly she realized he had been following her around, and she kind of liked it.

"Six months in Juvie could quite possibly have changed that idiot."

"It might not have." She reached over and turned a desk lamp on, picking up her silver laptop. As soon as she was signed in, she immediately recieved an IM. It read: "**it might haveee.**"

Rolling her eyes at Tabby, she turned back to her laptop.

**With Odd and Ulrich...**

"...yeah, and then he said it was a date, and it was Mikey's number, plus he walked her to her dorm."

"_So_?"

"He has an advantage! He knows her better and she pretty much hates me!"

"You haven't changed at all."

"What?"

"You only want her because you can't have her." **(2)**

"That's not true!"

"Is to. If you really like her, you should probably tell her you're sorry for being such a complete idiot. Plus I don't think she even likes him like that."

"What do you mean?"

"I took a class on Body Language at Juvenile Hall for my extra-curricular. She doesn't act the way someone would toward someone they're attracted to."

"Then what's his body language toward _her_?"

"Friendly." He paused. "From what Sparky told me, he and Gwen are together, and Tabby used to go out with him. The rest of them are single."

"Interesting. But in the closet she seemed so angry-"

"So you probably should avoid talking about Allianah." Ulrich, who'd been looking something up on the computer, seemed to have found what he'd been looking for, because he announced, "Allianah Sophia Fray- died of brain cancer toward the end of our sixth grade year."

"What? But she wasn't even bald!"

"That's only if they go through chemo, Odd. It says here that the doctors caught it too late. They gave her six months to live." **They did that to my uncle, =[ Pissed me off.**

"I feel guilty."

"So tell her you do."

"It's not that easy. She can barely stand talking to me."

"You wanted my advice. There it is."

Odd sighed. Ulrich was never any help when it came to girls. What happened to him and Yumi was proof. _Nope. That was my fault._ He felt so guilty. For everything. He'd ruined everyone's lives, and ended someone else's.

**(1) Unko means "shit" in Japanese. lol. She was probably in the Japanese spirit. XD**

**(2) Yeah, that was really in Odd's character, wasn't it?**

**Mkay, its kinda late, but review anyway? =] I'll update ASAP.**


	4. To Kill Again

**Well, I was completely done with this chapter, and when I went to upload it, I discovered that my grandmother had deleted my entire folder. Needless to say, I'm pretty pissed right now, so something evil is probably going to wind up happening by the end of this chapter (hinthint).**

"Turn it up!" Tiffany yelled again.

"Shut up. The last time I turned it up Jim came in and yelled at me."

"Aww, poor little Tabetha," she closed her laptop and opened the drawer next to her, which was filled with hundreds of packages of- that's right- tic-tacs.

"My name is not Tabetha," Tabby hissed, cringing as Tiffany popped a lime-green colored one into her mouth. "That flavor is gross." She raised an eyebrow and glanced into the drawer. Tiffany had about twenty packages of every color. "You have a serious tic-tac dependency."

"At least I don't spend all my time talking to my teddy bear!"

"His _name_ is Mr. Criddles and I've had him since I was like five!" They were referring to the white teddy bear that was currently on Tabby's pillow. Well, he used to be white. After she went all goth she dyed him black. "And you take pictures of people when they aren't looking!"

"What?! That's photography and I'm getting bonus credits for high school by doing that!"

"Of _course_ you are!"

Tiffany tossed her pillow at Tabby, who caught it with one hand and threw it back. "Actually, I am."

"Yeah, I know."

"So did you get our forms filled out?"

"Yeah, they're all sent out. Did it in Spanish, which was incredibly boring, and mailed them right before I headed up here." She paused, looking amused. "Maybe I should tell Odd and Ulrich that they're going."

"How did you even get Mr. Delmas to let them come?"

"Because _you_ promised to keep them out of trouble."

"Me?"

"He doesn't think I can because of- well, you know."

Tiffany laughed. She knew alright. When Tabby's phone went off a moment later, she picked it up and read the screen before she typed something back. "Is that Ulrich?"

"No."

"Then who?"

Tabby tossed her phone onto her bed, looking angry. "My _mom_. She just texted me to tell me I'm texting too much. Which makes her the biggest hypocrite that ever lived."

Tiffany laughed, picked up her phone, and texted Ulrich to tell him that they would all be camp counselors the second week of September. (It was a camp thing that got them out of school for a week. That's what the forms Tabby filled out were for.)

"I feel like messing with somebody," Tabby announced.

"Go torment Jim."

"Nah, I already did yesterday."

"Go torment _Ulrich._"

"Go get a _life_."

Tiffany laughed, then rested her head on her pillow. The faces of Hollywood Undead stared back at her from the poster she'd hung on the roof. "I _have_ to go to their concert. End of story."

"So go."

"By myself?"

"Yeah, just don't drink anyone else's drink. My cousin once went to a concert and she swiped someone else's drink, and it was drugged. She couldn't walk by the time she got outside. Her boyfriend had to carry her."

"I'm off alcohol."

Tabby cracked up, then announced, "Perhaps we should get to dinner soon."

"Already?"

"Yeah. Time flies. Makes you picture a clock with wings, doesn't it?"

**With XANA...**

He walked down a corridor to the TV Room. He glanced over his shoulder and, seeing that she wasn't following him, called, "72! Get down here now!" She came running, her feet padding across the what-was-designed-to-look-like blue linoleum.

"I'm sorry, Master. I was just training like you said earlier."

"I'm not angry, 72."

She nodded, her medium-brown hair bouncing around her ears, and followed him down the hall. He could always tell she was afraid of him, but that was okay. He didn't want her love; he hadn't even meant to design her with feelings at all. But the more realistic she was, the better. He needed her to be convincingly real.

"Master, are we going to kill today?"

"No."

"When?"

"Soon."

"How soon?"

"72, must I design a 73 with more patience?"

"Of course not, Master. I'm only excited. I can't wait."

They reached the TV Room. It had a high roof and the wall opposite the door was nothing but a large TV screen. All XANA had to do was type in where he wanted to view, and he could see anywhere in the real world without activating a tower.

"We will be checking in on the subjects," XANA announced. "I have yet to learn these new children's names- the ones the Odd one and the Ulrich are with now. But my plan has gone by smoothly, and it will continue to."

"I know, Master, I know. I helped you. I can't wait, Master! The world's going to be our's!"

"Of course, 72." XANA typed in a few keys on a translucent keyboard. "But these new children- the new players in the game I will undoubtedly win- get to have a role. Specifically the girl." He zoomed in on a girl with black and red hair. "Her. She will be the next."

"I get to kill her? When?"

"Soon." He zoomed out and showed her the cafeteria. "You have an important task ahead of you. Do you see how the group is split in half now? How the Odd and the Ulrich have been exiled? We must use this to our advantage."

"What do you mean, Master?"

"You will go to Earth again."

"To kill?"

"Not quite yet. You will first attend this school. They have called it Kadic, and I have searched for it in the internet. You will be a late enrollment. According to a recent usage of that girl's cellular phone-" He zoomed in on the girl's face again. "-they will be coulselors of some sort at a camp. You will come the day after they get back. You will be a boarder at this Kadic Academy, and you will befriend both groups. You must somehow get that girl onto Lyoko, at whatever costs, force or otherwise." He paused, then she watched as he- as if by magic- whipped up a photo of a beautiful blond girl, thick, black lines around her eyes, and a pale face. "You did well on this one, child. Extremely well." Then he switched the screen to a picture of an elderly woman. "However, you're work on her was a bit sloppy, but I'll give you it because that was last minute."

"Thank you, Master. I will try and prove myself through this one."

"I have- _faith_- in you. In fact, that would be a good name to consider when I send you off to boarding school. Faith. Do you like it?"

"You're asking my opinion, Master?"

"You _are_ the one that must be called by it."

"It is the perfect name."

The corner of his lip twitched, the closest the evil virus ever came to a smile. "Very well, 72."

**Thanks for reading!! =] I know, this is starting to get really exciting for meeee!!! ohhh, and btw, if you're interested in reading some of my original works, visit fictionpress. com/ ~lillypaw. mkay?? but the only recent story I have up there is called The RainDancer. So yahhh. Anyway:**

**Who is the mysterious 72? What is XANA's evil plot? What is he planning to do to Tiffany? Who will be the next to die? All will be reviewed in the future- if you review!!**


	5. Anywho

**Sorry this took forever ive had a lot to do. And to the user "d-u", yes , you bring up several good points, and most of them I can account for. However, if I did, I'd have to reveal basically my entire plot, and that just wouldnt do. XD except the part where odd's parents are mad at him. i dont have an excuse for that. :P whatevvzz. but everything else will be explained later. it all comes back to XANA.  
**

"Hey," Odd sat between Tiffany and Tabby at lunch the next day. Tiffany didn't hear him because she had her headphones in, so he took one out. "Whatcha listening to?"

Her green eyes (they looked bright in contrast to her eyeliner and they had a shade of blue in them) glared at him for a moment before she replied, "Hollywood Undead. But you have to speak English in order to understand them."

"You speak English?"

She didn't answer for a second, and she looked like she was getting ready to snatch her earphone back. "I'm trilangual. English, French, and Japanese."

"I bet that took forever to learn."

"My parents taught me all three when I was just learning to speak. I was homeschooled."

"So you're really smart?"

"I've been told that." She blinked slowly, then extracted her earphone from his hand. After placing it back in her ear, she pointedly turned her head in the opposite directed (where Mikey was sitting).

"She'll get over it," Gwen, who had a bruise on her cheek from soccer the day before, smiled from across the table. "Eventually."

"Odd has quite the crush on her," Mikey announced, and when Odd gave him a death glare he quickly added, "What? You're being kind of obvious!" The rest of them chuckled, but Odd didn't seem to enjoy their sense of humor.

"Is it true?" Tabby asked Ulrich, her 'I'm bored' attitude apparent in the careless tone he was getting accustomed to.

"Kind of- but don't tell Tiffany or Odd will kill me," he whispered back.

"IDK, she _is_ my best friend, and I _do_ tell her everything..."

"Agh- seriously- don't!"

"I'm just kidding," she rested her chin in the opposite hand. "Besides, I'm getting the vibe that she likes him, too. She's just too stubborn to admit it."

"Yeah," he sighed. Those girls wore so much eyeliner, the colors of thier eyes seemed to pop. Especially Tabby's, because Tabby's eyes were already freakishly bright to begin with. Yumi hated make-up, but somehow she'd always managed to look absolutely beautiful.

He glanced at the "Lyoko gang." Jeremie and Aelita were arguing about something, and William and Yumi gave each other a peck on the lips before Yumi turned to join in on Jeremie and Aelita's argument. Somehow, it didn't bother him as much as it would have six months ago. He was already getting used to ignoring them. They'd spent six months having a return to the past every other week, so he was used to the whole RTTP-without-a-fight. It suddenly all seemed so distant, because that wasn't his life anymore.

Tabby caught the look on his face. "It's sad when people you know become people you knew."

"Huh?" He turned to her just in time to catch the faint blush that crossed her cheeks, but she let her dark, layered hair fall in front of her face and the image was lost.

"Hey," Tiffany turned her Mp3 player off. "Where's Jay at?"

Mikey laughed. "Well, he was listening to his iPod during class, and he kind of started singing along- out loud." Everyone laughed. "He'll be here soon."

Tabby reached over Odd and touched Tiffany's shoulder, and Tiffany turned to her. "What?"

"Remember yesterday when I told you I wanted to mess with someone?"

"Huh? Yeah..."

"Watch this," she shot a glance at the Lyoko gang's table, then took her phone out and started toward them.

"Oh, Tabby," Gwen put her forehead in her hands.

Ulrich heard Tabby call William's name, and all four of them looked up, confused. William hesitantly got up and walked the ten feet between them.

"Hi. You have the same phone as me, so I was hoping you could help me. I can't figure out what's wrong with it..." Ulrich didn't get why everyone at the table looked so expectant, then out of nowhere, Tabby yelled, "Are you _hitting_ on me?!"

A dark look crossed Yumi's face and William looked shocked.

"Don't laugh!" Tiffany choked out. "You'll give her away!"

Tabby stalked back to the table and Yumi stormed off. William ran after her.

"You're a monster," Sparky shook his head.

"That was... dark... and twisted," Tiffany commented.

"I aim to please," she replied, and then Jay got there.

"Hey guys," Jay sat down. "I'm guessing Mikey already told you about my broadway performance in history."

"What song did you sing?" Gwen asked.

Jay buried his face in his hands. "Beat It, by Michael Jackson."

The entire table (except Jay) laughed so hard that the other people shot looks at them, and Tiffany announced, "I love that song."

"Me, too," Jay replied coldly, which made them laugh until they started to choke. Ulrich remembered (from back before he went to Juvenile Hall) that they used to burst out laughing like this, and he'd always wondered what it was about. An awkard silence filled the air for a few minutes, during which the only sound was made by Tiffany, who took a diet Dr. Pepper out of her messenger bag and opened it.

"So," Ulrich asked Gwen. "How come your parents didn't give you and Jay names that sound alike?"

"What?"

"Most parents give twins names like Julien and Julia, or Klaire and Klark. Your parents didn't."

This made everyone except he, Jay, and Odd laugh again, and when they finally settled down, Jay said, "Don't even say it, Gwen. Or I will never speak to you again."

Gwen's usually serene face formed a look of evil, her nose wrinkled up, and she defiantly announced, "Jay's real name is Glenn."

Then everybody started laughing, and once they started, they couldn't stop.

**Well...**

The week went on like that, with the occasional teacher treating them fairly and the annoying remarks made by other teens. They ignored their old group as much as the old group ignored them, Odd spoke to Tiffany occasionally, and Ulrich tried out for the soccer team (he made it, because Jim wasn't being a jerk). XANA didn't even attack, and overall, it wasn't that bad a first week back. Before they knew it, Friday evening rolled around.

**With Tabby and Tiffany...**

"What are you doing?" Tiffany asked Tabby, upon returning from dinner.

Tabby was on the floor, with Linkin Park playing from her computer's speakers, and she was mixing several different kinds of Glaceau vitamin water.

"I'm trying to see if I can get them to actually taste good."

"They're _mine_, and they tasted fine before!" Tiffany got on her knees next to Tabby. She reached over and grabbed some orange tic-tacs from the drawer. "Dump this in." Tabby dumped it into the empty 2 liter bottle that had once contained 7 Up but now contained several different flavors of Tiffany's vitamin water.

"I feel like a mad scientist."

"Either way, you're replacing every bottle of my water that you're wasting."

"I'm not wasting it! And you're the one with all the money!"

Tiffany scoffed. "So?"

"Anywho," Tabby took a sip of the concoction, made a face, and grabbed a can of grape soda to mix in. "Ulrich shared with me on Tuesday that Odd is... _infatuated_... with you."

"I need to stop teaching you those big words before you choke on one," Tiffany smiled, closing the lid on the bottle and shaking it. It was a common joke between the two; Tiffany was smart enough to be considered a nerd, but they both had money.

"I'm serious," Tabby replied. "But I'm not supposed to tell you so pretend you don't know."

Tiffany rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I still have yet to get tickets for the Hollywood Undead concert. I'm gonna call my dad and see what he can do."

"Calling Daddy?" Tabby's eyes grew wide. "I wanna say hi! And tell him I'm going to live with you on every vacation because my mom's 'traveling the world.'"

"Yeah, I know. But I have to call him at like three in the morning because of the time difference."

Tabby, who had been shaking it, opened the lid, and it fizzed over the top.

"Tabby!" Tiffany squealed. "You put soda in that!"

**I know the parts where they're in their room seem pointless, but the stuff they say will be important later. Review!**


	6. The Fair

**Aughh. Today was my first day of school and I had to switch schools. Don't even ask.**

"I'm coming!" Ulrich yelled again, and he headed to the door, where someone was insistently knocking. "Oh- you guys."

"Tick tock," Tabby tapped a fake watch on her wrist. "The sun is setting, now is the best time to be at a fair."

"Hurry up, Odd!" Tiffany called into the room, and Odd was up in an instant.

"Ready!" He announced.

Ulrich slid his shoes on and followed them down the hall.

"Gwen and the guys are already gone," Tabby huffed. "You guys forgot, didn't you?"

"No," Odd lied.

**At the fair...**

"How long are we staying?" Odd asked.

"Until someone throws up," Tiffany paid their way in (it was apparently her turn).

"'Kay, I'm going with Ulrich," Tabby held Ulrich's arm. "Tiffany, looks like you're stuck with Odd. Text us when you barf." She dragged Ulrich away before he could protest.

"What was that about?" He asked when they were well on the other side of the park.

"Now Tiffany has to hang out with Odd."

"Ohhh."

**With Tiffany and Odd...**

_I'll kill her._ "Let's go on that one first," she pointed to a ride that looked like a ferris wheel, but the cars flipped upside down and spun the whole way around.

As they were getting into the car, Odd wondered, "Does Tabby like roller coasters?"

"Not as much as I do." The cars bumped and jerked to a stop every few seconds so that the passengers could get loaded up.

"Poor Ulrich."

"What do you mean?"

"He has vertigo."

Tiffany started laughing, but the ride started and immediately flipped upside down. The seatbelts were loose, so they both slid down and hit their heads on the metal roof. "Ow! Talk about Karma!" She held her hands against the roof so her head wouldn't be on the roof.

Odd laughed, but the ride had roared to life at that point, and he bit his tongue. The car flipped wildly, and thier heads kept getting knocked into each other, so it wasn't that fun.

"My tongue hurts," Odd whined.

"Yeah, yeah, poor baby," Tiffany rubbed the top of her head. "Let's go on the Hammerhead next." She dodged through the people and gave some little kid a dollar so he could buy some cotton candy on the way there. The Hammerhead loomed in front of them, and the line was relatively short, so it only took about ten minutes until they got strapped in. After the ride ended, Tiffany continued to drag him around the park, but he really didn't mind because he was just happy to be spending time with her.

She wasn't being as wary as she normally would've been, which was good, and she looked like she was having a good time. At about ten o'clock she got a text, and she explained they were going to meet up and have a second dinner.

"Are you having fun?" Mikey asked her as they sat down.

"Yes, I am," she replied, nibbling on a piece of pizza.

That little fire was burning in his throat again. He was coming to terms with the fact that he was interested in her.

Ulrich looked green and pushed his taco away, and Tabby laughed.

"I'm tired," Ulrich announced. "Can we leave yet?"

"Nobody's thrown up," Gwen smiled sympathetically.

Mikey joined Tiffany and Odd after they ate, and they ran around the fairground until 11:30, when Tabby texted everyone with the announcement that Ulrich had barfed all over Crazy Train. Everyone laughed the whole way out of the park, except Ulrich, who looked ill.

"You okay?" Tabby asked him.

"Not really."

She laughed lightly, and they continued toward Kadic Academy.

Tiffany plugged her earphones in, so Odd decided not to talk to her right then. Instead he struck up a conversation with Sparky and Gwen that lasted until they reached Kadic and snuck into their dorms.

"That was fun?" Odd glanced at Ulrich, who fell on his bed and groaned.

"Don't talk to me."

"Okay." Odd rolled over and started playing his game boy.

**With Tiffany and Tabby...**

"Yeah. Odd told me he has vertigo."

"Now I feel bad."

"Why?"

"I kind of forced him onto the rides."

Tiffany laughed and picked up thier experiment from the night before. "I'm gonna give this to Sissi."

"She won't take it."

"Well, I can't keep it here. What if Peter gets into it? He could get, like, poisoned."

"Ha-ha," Tabby rolled her eyes sarcastically, opened the window, and threw it out. She gasped when she heard an angry shout, and Tiffany squealed, turning off the light.

"You hit Jim with it!"

"It was an accident!"

"He's coming!" Tiffany closed the door and Tabby slammed the window shut. They both dove into bed with all their clothes on and pulled the blankets up to thier chins. Tiffany clicked her tongue and Peter scurried across the floor, and she hid him under her blanket just as Jim barged in.

"Who threw this thing at me?" He yelled.

"Agh! Turn off the light!" Tabby pulled the blanket over her head. "We didn't do anything."

Jim grunted. "Sorry. Must have been the next floor up." He turned the light off and closed the door, and once his footsteps faded away, Tabby and Tiffany were practically rolling on the floor with suppressed laughter.

**lol. =] Review!!**


	7. Up In Flames

**Well, to the user "d-u", haha thanks but its not that type of story. and yes, have-a-cookie, it was a partial filler. :P i have the next four chapters written already, so the updates should be coming quicker.**

The following Wednesday (which was also September 1st) was the day that, just after dinner, Odd decided to do a little research on the computer that he and Ulrich shared in their dorm. Ulrich, for some reason or another, had detention (he suspected that he'd done it on purpose because that was the day Tabby was supposed to serve her detention for hitting Sissi in the back of the head with a soccerball) so he had the room to himself. He'd been thinking of Tiffany that day, and remembered that the week before she'd said something or other about listening to a band called Hollywood Undead.

When he finally realized the reason he wasn't getting any good search results was because he was spelling 'Hollywood' wrong (who knew it had two _L_'s?), he listened to some of the songs. He didn't understand the words, but a lot of them were evil-sounding in any language. He found a translator and listened to it while reading the lyrics in French, and a lot of the words were evil to him, but he didn't generally listen to that genre anyway.

Turning it off, he quickly got the beat from This Love, This Hate stuck in his head and then left the room. To his surprise, the second the door closed, he ran into Aelita.

"Oh- hey, Odd," she smiled, and it made him feel like he'd never left the gang, if only for a moment.

"Hey, Aelita," he grinned back. "Having a nice life?"

"Actually, no." She frowned. "Jeremie's so uptight now. All he ever thinks of is Lyoko. It's unhealthy."

"Einstein? He'll be fine once... you know... it's over." He didn't like the idea of 'it' being over without his and Ulrich's help.

Aelita sighed. "It's not fair."

Odd smiled reassuringly, but before he could console her, William walked around the corner, and he seemed to have been looking for her. "Aelita, Jeremie wants you." He gave Odd a wary look and walked off with Aelita.

**With the infamous XANA, fastforwarded to that Friday...**

"72!"

She came running from across the practice pad. "Yes, Master?"

"..._Faith_." He stared down into her gray eyes. "There is but fourteen more days before they leave for this camp and become counselors, and twenty-one days before you are to become a boarder at Kadic Academy.

"So long!" She sighed, frustrated.

The translucent keyboard appeared out of nowhere. "I have some new things to program into you."

"What things, Master?"

"The girl you are meant to kill next- I have learned her name to be the Tiffany- has some characteristics you must have."

"Such as what, Master?"

"She has much knowledge, so you must have more. She has a certain sense of style, so you must share that. The Odd is besotted with her, so you must look like her, only more striking than she. I will also be forced to change your hair color and style." He went on, listing things that he was about to change. The idea was that she was to cause problems between the Odd and the Tiffany before the Tiffany would die.

A chord appeared to unravel from the inside of the keyboard, and she plugged it into the bottom of her foot. She sat down, allowing him to start downloading and changing her.

Master would make her _perfect_.

**'Kay, let's check in on everyone...**

It was raining, and Tiffany, Tabby, and Gwen wanted to jump in every puddle before they finally made it to the cafeteria for dinner. The sky showed no signs of clearing up, and the weather reporter said to expect it for three or four days before the clouds gave way to bright, sunny skies.

"We're going to leave in two weeks," Gwen was excited. "No school, and all we have to do is boss a bunch of third graders around."

"Sounds wonderous," Tiffany replied, sipping her soda. She was wearing a puffy black South Pole jacket that day, and it had fake black animal fur on the ends. Odd wouldn't have even noticed the brand, but he kept seeing the front of the jacket moving, and Ulrich found this equally strange.

Finally, Odd couldn't help but ask, "Tiffany? Is there something in your jacket?"

Tiffany seemed confused, but then she (surprisingly) grinned, and clicked her tongue. A furry golden head appeared, and a tiny black nose sniffled at the air. "This is Peter."

"What is that _thing_?!" Sissi, who had been walking by, shrieked.

"It's a ferret, Sissi," Gwen rolled her eyes.

"And if you tell your father I'll let him loose in your room," Tabby glared pointedly, and Sissi shuddered and ran off. Peter's head disappeared back inside Tabby's jacket, and she smiled down at him.

"I have a dog," Odd told her from across the table, next to Ulrich. "His name is Kiwi. He's in mine and Ulrich's dorm."

"Tiffany has like ten dogs," Tabby said monotonously. "And ducks, and cats, and mice, and horses, and cockatiels..."

"Her house is like a zoo," Mikey cut in. "It's cuz her parents are loaded."

Tiffany rolled her eyes at him. "As if your's aren't."

He gave her a half smile, and Odd felt a spark of envy in his chest. Tabby had picked up her phone and was furiously texting someone with a look of contempt across her face, and Tiffany grinned again, uncharacteristically.

"Ugh. My mom wants to webcam chat with me about my texting," Tabby announced with malice dripping in her voice.

Tiffany laughed. "If you're going to the room, take Peter with you. And keep him warm." She clicked her tongue, and once Peter's head appeared, Tabby clicked her tongue, and Peter scurried out of Tiffany's jacket, down her arm, and leapt into Tabby's black backpack. With a wave, Tabby left.

**Ohmigosh, something really bad is about to happen! But first off, let's check in on XANA...**

"Faith, it appears you have completed what I have asked of you. You have done extremely well, and I believe you have proved yourself."

"Thank you, Master. It was not difficult." She added, disappointment apparent in her voice, "Will I be forced to wait longer before I can attend the school?"

"No, you will still be going to this Kadic Academy on time." He explained to her that it was unlikely that anyone would die.

"It's alright, Master, we will still be able to carry out your ingenious plan. And you have made me perfect. I will be able to help you. The world will be your's!"

XANA turned to her, and she saw the virus's true face. She sighed inwardly. Master was aging. Even as a virus, he'd been programmed to age, and he was getting rather old. Master would not be strong enough to rule the world, but she was not programmed to get old, and the world could be her's...

"Faith, go now. You will train."

"Of course, Master." She flicked her tail and hurried off.

**Well, back in the lunch room, a few minutes later...**

"So at some point during the party," Gwen was saying. "Tiffany's little sister, Ashley, put her turtle in the toilet, and then forgot he was in there. So my mom came in later..."

Her voice was drowned out by an insistent ringing, and they all jumped up. The fire alarm was going off. They hurried outside, and realized that the gym was ablaze. Tiffany gasped slightly, and saw hundreds of students speeding out from several buildings. She searched the crowd desperately for Tabby, and sighed with relief when the dark haired girl appeared, ferret in one hand.

The firetrucks pulled up as the roof was lit with flames; there was no way that the building would survive. Ulrich glanced around desperately, but saw Aelita's pink hair at once and realized this was not a XANA attack. As the flames started to travel across the lawn, students screamed and ran across the schoolyard, spilling into the streets. This was not something they could erase with the click of a keyboard. They couldn't deactivate a tower and wipe away any traces of this. The cruel truth was that this was real, this was reality, and there was nothing Ulrich could do as the fire that had been traveling across the grass licked at the cafeteria, and it started burning, too.

Ulrich didn't realize he had stopped until Tabby grabbed his arm and dragged him away from the burning buildings and the firefighters attempting to put the rapidly spreading inferno out. The students were screaming and running through the streets; Ulrich saw the Lyoko gang all together. It seemed the outcasts and the Lyokonians were the only ones that weren't freaking out.

And he stared at the bright orange, red, and yellow substance as it rampaged through the cafeteria and the gym. The other teens were all running off, and Principal Delmas was working on rounding them up. The teachers were doing a roll call, trying to make sure nobody was inside. Ulrich's chest felt like it was going to cave, and the smoke inhalation wasn't helping. All he could do was watch as the school was going up in flames.

**Dun dun dun.**


	8. Tiffany's House

**cuz ur dead.**

The students were all being sent on immediate flights home, or to a hotel until they could get a plane to take them home. Not because there was any damage to the dorms (where wasn't), but because the police suspected arson and the students would get in the way of the investigators.

"We're taking the red-eye flight," Tiffany announced. "Dad pulled some strings, and everyone's going to my house and then we're getting everyone except Tabby, Ulrich, and Odd tickets to their houses."

"We-" Odd started.

"No offense," Tabby floated her arms across her chest. "But when was the last time your parents called you?"

Ulrich and Odd didn't answer, and everyone set off to pack. A few hours later, they were all settling into their first class seats on the plane. Tiffany, who had stuck Peter in her jacket and managed to get him passed airport security, was sitting next to Tabby and listening to her Mp3 Player. Tabby was on Tiffany's laptop, Odd and Ulrich were sitting in front of them, Sparky and Mikey were behind them, and Jay and Gwen were across the aisle.

After a while, Ulrich got up to go to the bathroom. When he was gone, Miley stole his seat and Gwen sat with Sparky, who presently put his head in her lap.

Tiffany smiled slightly, and Odd could hear a Hollywood Undead song blasting from her earphones. She caught him looking at her, and she half-smiled at him. He grinned back, turned around, and started talking with Mikey.

Their plane landed when the sun was rising. Tiffany led them outside and seemed to recognize one of the cars, because she and Tabby both shrieked "Leroy!" and practically tackled a tall, thin elderly man standing next to a black Range Rover. He chuckled heartily and patted them each on their heads. He had wild, dark blue eyes and was entirely bald except for a fringe of white hair that hung from around his head. He wore a white polo shirt tucked into his black jeans and shiny black leather shoes.

He opened the door for them, and Ulrich mumbled, "Thank you." There was a mini-fridge in the corner of the car, and the two rows of seats faced each other. There was a table in the center, and a phone on it. The seats were all white leather, and the carpet was soft and white, while the windows were tinted in contrast.

After a long silence, Tiffany handed each of them a Diet Coke and took a Glaceau Vitamin Water for herself.

"If you don't mind me asking," Odd looked around in wonder. "What do your parents do for a living?"

She smiled and set her Mp3 Player down on the table. "Mom's a rather well-known psychiatrist, and dad's the third-best surgeon in the country. He saved some celebrity last year."

"What time are we getting to your house?" Ulrich questioned.

"Around seven."

"It's a four-story," Tabby was grinning and uncharacteristically practically jumping up and down in her seat. "I practically live there. I can't wait to see Waffles."

Odd assumed Waffles was her dog, and he turned to stare out the window. The sun was just above the horizon. Amazingly, he felt incredibly alert, despite the fact he was was supposed to be suffering from jetlag.

The Range Rover pulled into a street called Strawberry Lane, somewhere a few cities off of Sacramento, California. It ran down the street (ten houses from the turn-off) and Tabby banged her head on the window with her hands pressed against the glass when they passed Crazy Old Man Cooper's house. (Tiffany explained why because Odd and Ulrich were looking at her like she was nuts.) At the end there was a cul de sac, but it was more like a circular driveway for the light blue and white four-story that wrapped around it. The green, manicured front lawn was covered in morning dew, and the rising sun made it sparkle.

"You live _here_?" Odd remarked rhetorically.

"Yeah, yeah," Tiffany let Peter loose, and he ran inside through the doggy door that was on one of the white double doors. Several dogs came running from the house, and Tiffany got to her knees, letting them lick at her face and arms. The others did the same, and Odd let Kiwi out so he could meet them. A St. Bernard jumped up on him, and he grunted and landed on his bottom.

"Would help if you weren't so scrawny," Ulrich commented, patting the large dog's head.

"I'm not scrawny. I'm svelte!" He pushed the great hound off of him.

"Good boy, Chester," Tabby grinned, noting the pawprint on Odd's shoulder. He smirked at her sarcastically and patted it off.

Tiffany and Tabby rushed through the house, and Tiffany called something about Leroy getting their bags. The house was big, and Ulrich was panting by the time they reached the backyard through two very large sliding glass doors. The backyard was bigger than the actual house; it was about thirty acres across. In the far right, against a white picket fence, was a garden with a pond in the center, and several ducks were swimming in it. The left was a bunch of bird cages, filled with a variety of birds, and in front of the pond was a white gazebo. Between the pond and the bird cages there was a big gate, and beyond that was a barn and a pasture filled with a dozen horses. The lawn, green and manicured as the front one, was littered with more dogs and several brave cats.

Tiffany wrapped her arms around a dog's neck and kissed it while Tabby bolted to the pond and picked up a Mallard duck, shrieking something that sounded like, "Waffles! Waffles! Waffles!"

Odd glanced around. Everyone besides Tabby, Ulrich, Tiffany, and himself had gone back inside to eat. He walked forward and asked her, "Who's this?" Kiwi greeted the huge Rottweiler/Great Dane mix enthusiastically.

"Lucky," she smiled, accepting the dogs kisses. Lucky turned to Odd and licked his hand, and when he looked at her milky blue eyes, he realized she was blind.

"Nice dog," Odd commented, glancing at Ulrich and Tabby. Tabby was fussing over the duck and Ulrich looked bewildered.

"Tabby!" Tiffany stood up and yelled for her friend. "Let's get Ashley!" Tabby took off across the huge yard, Ulrich and Waffles in tow. Odd followed her as she took the steps two at a time to the third story.

They burst through the door to the right of the stairs, and Odd watched themp jump on somebody's bed, Waffles quacking enthusiastically. She sat up, gasped, and tackled them both, squealing. Odd and Ulrich shut the door and walked down the stairs. The others were nibbling on random foods, and Odd helped himself. Ulrich waited for Tiffany and Tabby to return with the girl, but they didn't come down until a half an hour later.

"Hey, Ashley," Jay tried to be casual, but he was blushing faintly. Ulrich glanced up. Tiffany and Tabby had returned, along with the girl from before (apparently her name was Ashley.) The girl had red hair, but her's was cut in crazy layers and it was in pigtails that just brushed against her shoulders. Her eyes were brown and, just as he was getting used to, smeared with thick black eyeliner. She was short and skinny, with barely any fat on her (not to mention flat-chested), and sthe tiny black tanktop and little black shorts she wore emphasized it. She appeared to be a year younger than him, and she had a black wristband on her left wrist.

"Who is _this_?" She asked, pointedly looking at Odd, a flirtatious smile on her face.

"Eh!" Tiffany grunted loudly, and Ashley's eyes crossed to Jay.

"That's Odd and Ulrich," Tabby announced, gesturing toward the two. "This is Tiffany's little sister, Ashley."

"Why doesn't she go to Kadic?" Ulrich wanted to know.

"Bad grades," Tiffany explained.

"Tiffany got all the good genes," Ashley pouted, and Tiffany blushed.

Tiffany gave them a tour of the house and explained that her parents wre basically never home because of their demanding (but high-paying) jobs. After she introduced them to Ashley's turtle, Melvin (who was highly medicated and couldn't stay out in the pond with the other turtles), she sent Ashley off to her public school.

Tiffany showed them her room last. It was the entire fourth story ("Cuz I'm the oldest."); she had a large bathroom on the far left, and two queen sized beds on the opposite wall. She had a balcony overlooking the backyard, a walk- in closet, and a large flat-screen. Peter was already up there, sleeping on the bed that was apparently Tiffany's. Waffles waddled around the room, caught sight of Tabby, and quacked.

Tiffany padded across the white carpet, sat on her gray bedspread, and patted Peter on his furry golden head. Odd's bag was leaning against the gray wall, along with several otherl Leroy had already brought them up. He opened his bag and started playing his GameBoy, while Tabby started texting madly. Ulrich smiled, looking at her bright blue eyes, sitting on her bed, a look of contempt on her face.

"Who's that?"

"My mother," she replied, typing something obscene, erasing it, and starting something more appropriate. She finally snapped her phone shut and threw it at Miley. It hit him in the arm, and he cursed at her. She laughed, and Ulrich's smiled. For a moment, he was far away from Kadic, far away from Lyoko, from Yimi, from the accident, and he was finally at peace.

**Hahhh. Now review. =]**


	9. So Up Until Then

**ththtrh**

Everyone except Tabby and Odd nodded off a few minutes later; Sparky and Gwen were side by side on Tiffany's bed, Tiffany was sitting up against the side of her bed, and Mikey, Ulrich, and Jay were spread-eagled on the floor. Tabby was on her bed, but she was on Tiffany's laptop, Odd sat next to her and watched her check her MySpace.

He smiled slightly when he glanced at Tiffany. Her hair was falling into her face.

"She's a light sleeper," Tabby whispered, "So don't mess with her or I'll hit you."

"Okay," he replied unsurely. After a pause, he added, "I don't think she hates me anymore."

"I've never seen her hate anybody," Tabby smirked as she replied to a message from her mom. "And I think she likes you, anyway."

"What makes you say that?" The flame in Odd's chest was in his brain now, but it was one of satisfaction, not of envy.

"Well, it's a _bit_ obvious."

"Oh... I thought she liked Mikey, though?"

"What?" Tabby looked at him incredulously, then laughed. "Mikey's her _cousin_."

Odd mentally kicked himself. He should have realized- they had the same nose and were about the same height.

"And just a little hint- Tiffany, Mikey, and I are going to a Hollywood Undead concert the night after we get back from Camp Wild. I might possibly have an extra ticket... you could show up. And we're going way early so we can get near the stage. Everytime we go to a concert, Tiffany gets them to sign her jeans in Sharpie. Apparently she hasn't gotten Hollywood Undead yet."

Odd looked at all the little signatures on her jeans. There were dozens of autographs all over them, some of which he knew, some he didn't; Odd smiled, and they didn't say anything for a few minutes, at which point Odd sat next to Tiffany and fell asleep.

Leroy came in later and gave Gwen and Jay train tickets to Washington (where they lived), Sparky a plane ticket back to Canada, then drove them to the train station and the airport. Afterward, he drove Mikey to his house a few short miles away, then picked Ashley up from school.

Ashley and Tabby hung out for a while, and Odd, Tiffany, and Ulrich slept until three o'clock in the morning, at which point Ashley and Tabby were just going to sleep.

The next three days, Odd, Ulrich, Tiffany, and Tabby were home alone with Ashley when she wasn't in school. Tiffany's mother (it was clear where the girl's had gotten their looks) dropped in for a little while, then went off on some work business in New York (something about Britney Spears calling her personally and offering a large sum of money if she flew out immediately).

**The following Saturday...**

"Hey!" Tiffany bounded into the room, Lucky at her heels, and stopped in front of the Plasma screen. "The school called. It'll be about a week before we actually go back, at which point we're just going to leave and go straight to Camp Wild."

Tabby threw her phone at her, and she moved out of the way. Lucky tripped over Ulrich's legs and landed sprawled across Odd and Ashley's laps. Tiffany scoffed and bolted up the stairs. Odd got up and followed her a moment later, and nobody gave any sign of noticing him; they all continued watching an English movie.

_They need an elevator._ Odd's thighs were starting to burn as he ran up the stairs, turned a corner, and charged up the next flight. He reached the top a moment later and glanced around. Tiffany had her back to him, and she was putting a CD into her stereo. He recognized the sound of Hollywood Undead a moment later.

"Don't you get tired of their songs?" Odd inquired.

She jumped slightly and turned around. "Don't you ever get tired of Alien Zombies VI?"

"Of course not!" He replied indignantly, sitting on her bed.

She turned the music on low and sat next to him. "Having a good break from school?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah," he paused. "So I have this problem."

She clicked her tongue and Peter scurried up her arms. "That's my mom's job."

He rolled his eyes and pressed on, "Well there's this girl, and for a long time, I was really horrible to her. Except now I know how it feels when people are horrible to me, so I'm not mean to her anymore."

"And how do you feel about that?" She answered, and he scowled. Peter sniffed at her cheek, and she raised an eyebrow to show that she knew he was talking about her.

"And I realized that I really like her. A lot. Except I think that if I told her, she'd never believe me. Do you know how I can prove it?"

She chewed on the inside of her lip, then let Peter climb on top of her shoulder and slide down her back. "Well," she finally stated slowly. "Do you even know this girl's favorite color?"

Odd smiled sheepishly. "No."

"You can't like someone you don't know anyone about, Odd."

"But I do."

She rolled her eyes. "I am _so_ not arguing with you over this." Then she got up and hurried down the stairs.

**Later...**

"Rejection!" Tabby was practically rolling on the floor.

"It's not funny," Tiffany replied.

"I'll definetely take him if you don't want him," Ashley piped up, setting Melvin down next to Peter.

"Not funny, Ashley," Tiffany hissed. Her sister was such a flirt.

And though Ashley drove her insane, it still wasn't easy saying good-bye after the uneventful week had passed.

"Love you," Ashely smiled, then winked at Odd and ran one hand through her pigtails.

"Yeah," Tiffany rolled her eyes, "Love you, too."

Then they got into the range rover and began a quiet ride to the airport (saying good-bye to Leroy was hard, too), then boarded the airplane. When they were maneuvering toward their seats, Tabby grabbed Ulrich's arm and dragged him into the seat next to her.

"What?" He asked.

She leaned back against the window, grinning mischieviously. "Now Odd and Tiffany are stuck together."

So Odd and Tiffany chatted quietly while Ulrich and Tabby watched, giggle like schoolchildren, as the two constantly looked away from each other and blushed. _Well,_ Tabby thought. _She likes him. She just doesn't know it yet._

And, alas, as Tiffany stated above, they had to leave for Camp Wild the next morning.

They were each put into pairs for counseling, except Gwen, who was on her own with a group of monster third graders. Tabby and Tiffany, who were Cabin Thunder, probably had the least trouble. By the end of the week the little girls would've marched right off the waterfall if Tabby or Tiffany told them to. But aside from that (and Ulrich's little run-in with Poison Oak that he had to have a shot in his butt to get rid of), Camp Wild was rather disappointing.

On Monday, however, Tiffany opened her door to see Odd, who offered to walk her to class. Afterward, he and Ulrich went to thier first class of the day.

And it was during chemisty, one of the classes he, Tiffany, and Ulrich had together, that there was a knock on the door. The chemistry teacher, Mr. Kentelle, answered the door, and Odd saw Mr. Delmas walk off just before Mr. Kentelle brought in the new girl.

**hfjdsfjhdsfjhjdagsdasfj**


	10. Faith

**fdkjlgfjkf**

"Well, class, this is Faith Burrell (ber-ehl). She's a new student at Kadic and I'm sure you'll all make her feel right at home."

Odd's eyes widened slightly, and Tiffany blinked in recognition. The girl's hair was white-blond with hot pink and black streaks throughout it. Her eyes were hot pink, too, but he guessed they were colored contacts. She was wearing a pair of short black shorts that barely followed the dress code, and a tight black tee shirt that had what looked like hot pink paint splattered all over it but it was really just the design. Her black skater shoes had hot pink laces, and her knee high socks were black with hot pink diamonds on them. Her skin was on the pale side, but her makeup was tasteful and she had only a little eyeliner on. She was even thinner than Ashley, and her clothes emphasized it just as much, and even though she was short and extremely thin she didn't look anorexic.

She smiled, flashing perfect white teeth, and seemed to speak directly to Odd when she said, "Hey."

"Sit by... Cameron," Mr. Kentelle said, and Cameron raised his hand. She sat next to him, in front of Odd, who was next to Tiffany, flipping her elbow-length hair over her shoulder.

After class was over, she turned around to face him, picking up her hot pink book bag. "Hi. I'm Faith. What's your name?"

"Odd," he answered. Of course, this girl would be uninterested as soon as she found out it was his fault someone was dead.

**Speak of the devil, and the devil shall appear.** "Faith," Sissi strutted toward them. "You do know he killed somebody, right?"

"That's so sad," she turned back to him, her eyes full of sympathy. "It was an accident, right? What happened?" She walked side by side with him, her hand resting lightly on his upper arm, as if trying to comfort him, and he started to tell the story, making sure not to leave out a single part.

Tiffany had been waiting in the doorway for him, but when she saw who he was walking with, she sighed inwardly and left.

**During Lunch...**

"You guys don't mind if Faith sits with us, do you?" Odd asked as he led Faith to the table.

Sparky cursed, his forehead in his hands, and didn't reply. Jay was sitting across the table, and he looked like he was going to punch Sparky any second. Tabby, Gwen, and Tiffany were missing from the table.

"She can sit here," Mikey looked up at Odd.

"What's his problem?" Odd asked him, sitting next to Faith.

"That _idiot_-" Jay jerked his head in Sparky's direction. "-just got caught _cheating_ on my sister."

"It was a one time thing!" Jay's head jerked up. "I don't even know why I did it!" He looked annoyed and angry.

"Some ugly _bitch_ named _Sam_," Jay went on, ignoring Sparky. "And it was a _one time_ thing."

Odd's heart skipped a beat and Jay and Sparky got in a screaming match that ended in violence. It took three of the gym teachers to get them away from each other and then they were sent to Mr. Delmas.

Odd sighed, turned to Faith, and said, "Sorry. It's not usually this crazy."

"It's okay," Faith replied, resting her head in one hand, her eyes telling him that she absolutely adored him. He sighed, and they went deep into conversation.

**In Tiffany and Tabby's room about that time...**

"Augh!" Gwen was working off stress by screaming into a pillow, and Tabby and Tiffany were attempting to console her.

"Oh, come on, Gwen. You and Sparky have been pretty rocky for like a month, and-" Tiffany started akwardly.

"I hate guys!" Gwen sat up and yelled, her face red from exertion and her usually gentle features twisted into a look of fury. "I hope they all DIE!!!" She started beating up the pillow, and Tiffany and Tabby sighed.

"Odd's head over heels for the new girl," Tiffany rolled her eyes. "_Faith_, or whatever her name is. She's Allianah's cousin. I met her at the hospital when Allianah was sick. Not that I care."

"You so care."

"Quit it, Tabby. I do not."

Tabby could tell by Tiffany's tone that she was obviously very sensitive on this subject, so she changed it. "The concert's tonight."

Tiffany immediately brightened up, and Gwen, who was so busy curb-stomping the pillow, didn't notice she was rolling off the bed until she was actually off the bed, but she still didn't seem to care because she went right on beating the pillow.

"Gwenyth? That pillow's going to lose all it's shape if you keep doing that," Tiffany reminded her.

Gwen took the black pillow out of her mouth (it felt good to sink her teeth into it) and spat, "I don't _care_."

"Oh, come on, Gwen, be happy," Tabby told her.

Gwen hissed like a cat and started chewing on the pillow again; Peter raced across the floor and under the bed.

"I wasted four months of my life on that guy and he macks on some girl he doesn't even know the second I turn my back," Gwen finally gave up on the pillow and settled between the girls on the bed.

Tiffany sighed. Much as she loved Gwen, she didn't feel much sympathy for her. _Odd_ and _Faith_. Who were so _obviously_ into each other. Fine. They could love each other all they wanted for all she cared. So what? She didn't even like Odd. He was a jerk that verbally assaulted her every chance he got. _Not anymore_, the voice in her head argued, and she slipped out of the room while Gwen was talking to Tabby.

She decided to screw the rest of the day. She was going to go hang out in the woods and feel sorry for herself. She slipped her earphones into her ears, and Hollywood Undead made her feel less alone.

**In the Cafeteria...**

The XANA attack occured shortly afterward. A simple possession, right? Wrong.

Because Sissi was possessed, and for no reason at all, the possessed body picked up a table, broke off its leg, and shoved it through William's gut. The boy bled to death a few minutes later, while Odd- who'd been trying to protect Faith- watched.

**Later that Day...**

Faith walked into her room. She was supposed to be flirting with Odd- and she had. She didn't even like him much, but it didn't matter what _she_ wanted. Whatever _Master_ wanted, went.

She rolled her eyes, annoyed, and locked her door. Setting the stupid bag she had to carry down, she clicked a few buttons on her computer, and started a WebChat with Master.

"Hello, Faith," he greeted her gravely. "I understand the William is dead."

"I know, Master, I know," she replied, grinning. "You did it perfectly. Odd doesn't even suspect me. None of them know a thing. And now that William's gone, I'm going to help the groups merge. It's so brilliant, Master. Once they're shattered over _Tiffany's_ death, it will be the perfect time to strike. Every single Lyokonian warrior will be grieving, and you'll finally rule this pathetic world!"

"Quiet, Sev- Faith. Someone might hear you." He paused. "And the Odd has taken a liking to you?"

"Oh, yes, Master. He's in the palm of my hand!"

"Good. Continue with what you're doing." And the WebChat closed.

**Bwahahahahaha. Totally revealed a lot. And did you notice something important when Tiffany and Tabby were comforting Gwen? I did. =]**


	11. Every Cloud In the Sky

**Thanks to Teh Pwnerer, lolz. I now have two fans (queen_of_carni12 being the first) lolzz.**

The next day at school, classes were called off to give the students a chance to talk to grief counselors and for the memorial service. People spent the day mourning William Dunbar, a boy many of them knew, who had died of internal bleeding in his room. The cause of the bleeding would have been unknown, but Ulrich Stern claimed he'd seen the boy fall out of a tree and that might have been the reason the teen died.

Odd, Ulrich, Tiffany, Tabby, Gwen, Sparky, and Jay left school grounds the entire day and went to the mall. It rained all day.

**Well...**

"Jeremie, you can't deny it anymore," Aelita locked the door to Jeremie's room behind her and sat on his bed.

He didn't reply.

"William's dead. If we'd just let them help us again, he might still be alive."

Again, the blond said nothing.

"Jeremie," the tears were starting to stream down Aelita's face. "Jeremie."

"Aelita," Jeremie's voice was tired and monotonous. "I know. I've got blood on my hands now, too. I shouldn't hold it against them. But Odd was right there when William died, and he didn't do anything."

"There's nothing Odd could've done!" She burst out. "Stop making excuses for yourself!"

Taken aback by her hostility, he finally stated wearily, "Fine. Fine, they can come back. But they're not our friends, Aelita, and they can't hang out with us. They can help on Lyoko, but that's all."

She wiped at her eyes and sniffled, but he didn't turn away from his computer. She realized why when she saw the little droplets hitting the keyboard, and she left the room to look for Odd and Ulrich, though she wasn't going to end up finding them that day.

**The next morning...**

It was crazy.

Like since William died, everyone seemed to have forgotten it was their fault Helen Johnson was dead. They weren't forgiven, of course, but everyone seemed so focused on William being gone, no one had time to concentrate on them.

Aelita found Odd at lunch (which everyone was eating outside since the gym and cafeteria were gone) and tearily told him the news, then walked off. Ulrich didn't even crack a smile when Odd told him, but Odd was cheered by the fact that Faith followed him around like a lost puppy.

Which, of course, led to Tiffany being in a foul mood, and Tabby seemed to be texting more than usual. Gwen didn't even look at Sparky the whole time, and Jay tried to get them excited about the Fall Formal that would be coming up in two weeks, but nobody paid much attention to him.

Soccer was easy enough, because everyone was moving like zombies and Jim didn't seem to care. Nobody picked on Odd, Tiffany, and Faith (who miraculously seemed to have every class with him) on their way to Japanese class, and Ms. Akanawa announced that they would be watching episodes of Shaman King in Japanese all day. Yumi's seat was empty.

Faith and Odd kept passing notes during class, and Tiffany and Tabby were texting each other. Tabby kept saying things in Spanish, which annoyed Tiffany even further, then realized Ms. Akanawa had left the room. She immediately turned when the doorway opened, and Tabby walked in and sat on the floor next to Tiffany.

"What are you doing here?" Tiffany whispered. Odd hadn't even noticed.

"Hola. I'm joining your class today. Doesn't matter, all of the teachers are as depressed as everybody."

"Pisses me off," Tiffany sunk lower in her seat. "Nobody got this upset when Allianah died."

Tabby rolled her eyes, turned, and threw her phone at Faith's head. It bounced off the girl's forehead, and she glared at Tabby. When she saw Tiffany, though, she shrunk away and tried to hide herself from Tiffany's view.

**Inside of Faith's head...**

_Oh, no. I hope she doesn't recognize me. I'm supposed to look like number 41. She met 41. Crap, crap, crap. Maybe she won't realize. 41 wasn't perfect. I am._ Her heart beating quickly, she kept her breathing under control. But Tiffany had looked away, and a tiny look of pain crossed her face before she told Tabby not to be mean. Odd looked ticked off, too. _Perfect. Just like me._

**While her silent battle went on...**

"What'd you do that for?" Odd asked Tabby.

"Sorry, I was aiming for you," Tabby replied, reaching under Odd's desk and picking up her phone. She looked incredibly bored, as usual.

Odd was about to go on, but Tiffany said, "Don't be mean, Tabby," and Odd caught something on her face. What was it? It looked kind of like pity, but different. He decided he'd imagined it, then turned to Faith.

"Sorry, she's really rude," he told her. "You're forehead's a little red. Are you okay?"

She rubbed it and whimpered slightly, and his annoyance with Tabby heightened as he took Faith's hand and comforted her.

Tiffany wished she could sink right through the floor.

**With Ulrich...**

Did this mean they forgave him? Did it mean that he could sit with them at lunch again? Did Yumi really... wait, why Yumi? She'd rejected him, hadn't she, without wanting the truth. She'd abandoned him, right? _It's not her fault. It isn't. She's a good, beautiful person. She was just confused._ But he couldn't help thinking about it. If they were accepted, would the old group reject his new ones? What would he do then?

This new group didn't even know him, and they'd wanted to know the truth before they judged him. They hadn't even really done that. What was he supposed to do? What about Tabby, who he couldn't help but blush about and get a tiny little frog in his throat each time he saw her?

He yearned for a XANA attack, so he could test this new equation. Maybe the way they acted toward him would give him his answer. But it made him think of William, and his stomach tightened. He wouldn't cry, and he probably wouldn't miss the guy that much, but he would never, _ever_ have wished for him to die. He never hated someone before, and definetely didn't dislike someone so much he wished for their death No one deserved that.

He tried to think about everything that had been happening to him recently. Hard as he tried, he couldn't bring himself to miss the safe walls of Juvenile Hall. It was easy there, but being safe was too boring. He needed danger, circles in his stream, clouds in his sky. He couldn't stand waking up every day and knowing what was going to happen. Eat, shower, excersize, eat, half hour of television, eat, more excersize, sleep again. Over and over. He couldn't take one more day of that.

The Spanish teacher droned on and on, and he wondered why nobody said anything when Tabby left the room. _I guess people are pretty broken up. It's hard to blame them._ He wouldn't cry for William. He knew that. But his heart ached for Yumi, and he wondered if he should say something to her. He finally took out his phone and texted Yumi. **r u ok?**

She never replied.

**It's partially a filler. Sorry. But the real plot's coming up soon. It's just a lot of the plot is going to happen all at once, and I don't want a five chapter story, so theres bound to be a few fillers. Review anyway?**


	12. An Interesting Conversation

**lolz have-a-cookie just cracks me up for some reason. like whenever i read one of her reviews i cant help but laugh, even when shes not joking. and yes, have-a-cookie, you guessed right. it just adds to the plot, dont you think? and thank you to Teh Pwnerer- XD how old are you? like, seriously, do you work in an office or is that an expression? XD**

Tiffany lay on her bed that Friday night. Gwen and Mikey were on their first date right that second, which depressed Sparky, who was laying on her bedroom floor. Tabby was hanging out with Ulrich ("It's _not_ a date!! We're just walking around campus!") and Odd and Faith were- you guessed it- at the movies. Together.

_Whatever._ Odd had a right to date people he liked. So what if he didn't like her? _It's gray._ She couldn't help thinking. _My favorite color is gray._

Sparky was talking about random things, but he knew she wasn't really listening. Hollywood Undead was playing softly from her stereo, and she mumbled along to it. Sparky took out his wallet, which was connected to a chain, and stared at a picture of a beautiful girl with light blond hair and brown eyes. Thick eyeliner, dressed in black. She was pale from lack of sun, and her hair had been to her shoulders. She'd let it grow after her chemo had failed.

Tears pricked the edges of Tiffany's eyes, and she threw her pillow at him. "Put the damn picture away."

"Geez, I'm sorry," he replied sarcastically as he got up and changed it to a different song. She closed her eyes. Sparky and Allianah were dating when it happened. He might have cared about Allianah as much as Tiffany did. She didn't want to cry, but the tears came anyway.

Sparky buried his face in his hands, and Tiffany curled up in a ball. _Damn it._ She was sobbing again.

_Tiffany's running her hands nervously through her hair, and tears are brimming at the edges of her eyes. Dying. Dying. Dying. The rain is pounding impossibly hard against the window. It just adds to the moment. The heat of it. The excrutiating pain of it._

_Sparky's crying on her shoulder, and she hardly has the strength to keep her eyes open. She's mumbling incoherently, and she finally says, "Quit it. You're depressing me." He's squeezing her hand so tightly that her fingers are turning white, but she doesn't feel the pain anymore. Tiffany is holding her other hand, and Sparky kisses her fingers._

_"Don't go," Tiffany whispered, whimpering. The radio is playing You Found Me, by The Fray, and it's making everything worse. She tries to switch it off._

_"No," she says. "I love this song."_

_"Don't go," Sparky echoes._

_"I'm tired," she shifts. Gwen is crying, too. Mikey is curled up in a ball on the floor.(1) "Will you miss me?"_

"Always," Sparky shudders. "Always."

Tiffany whimpers. A strange gurgling sound escapes her throat, and she foams at the mouth, her body convulsing violently for a moment before it stops. Her parents wouldn't care, they never did, but all of their eyes were locked on her body. All of them saw the same thing.

_Allianah Fray was dead._

Tiffany left the room when her crying ceased. She didn't want to listen to Sparky's tears anymore.

**After Odd's date...**

The date had ended with the perfect kiss. The most perfect date, ever, with the most beautiful girl, ever.

_Seriously_, Odd thought on his way back to his dorm. _How perfect can you get? She's hot, and she doesn't even care about what happened to Helen Johnson!_ He was so excited, but a dark thought crossed his mind. _Must be over Tiffany. I guess we just wouldn't have worked out anyway._ He thought of her eyeliner, way too thick, and her loud music. It was cute, in a way, but he and Faith really clicked.

He'd never actually met a girl more perfect for him. She loved the same music, skateboarding, even video games! She was smart, pretty, funny... it was as if he'd finally met the perfect girl. _Perfect. Completely and-_

He stopped mid-thought when somebody ran into him. It was slightly dark, but his eyes had adjusted, and he looked down at Tiffany. Her cheeks were dark, and he realized her eyeliner had been running.

"You got a little..." He let his voice trail off and motioned to his eyes.

She inhaled deeply, sidestepped around him, and ran off. _What's her damage?_

**With Tabby and Ulrich...**

"Actually, Tiffany's a nerd," Tabby rolled her eyes as they sat down on the famililar, vacant bench. "She doesn't like anyone knowing about it, but she's an Honor student. She's here because Kadic offered her a spot. Before that, she was homeschooled."

"Oh," Ulrich pondered that. "When did you come to Kadic?"

"Like two weeks after Allianah died last year." She paused and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "And Tiffany's real touchy about that. Might tell Odd to leave that subject alone, hint hint."

"Will do. Where did you go before Kadic?"

"Public school. My mom and dad shipped me off here so they could, like, travel the world and whatnot. Crazy old folks. My mom is constantly texting me. And MySpacing me. And overall, bothering me. She makes me crazy."

"Maybe she misses you?"

"She's having too much fun. I don't even remember which continent she's in right now."

"Wow, looks like you miss her, too."

"What? I kinda do. But I don't really even know her. I was raised by a nanny. She's always going places. She told me she had some life-alterring event happen to her or whatever and that she thinks it's important to live while you're alive."

"That's true, though."

"Please. This life-alterring event was probably tripping down two stairs."

"Sheesh. I wish my parents were speaking to me."

"Bitter. They've probably already forgiven you. They're just making sure you've learned your lesson."

"You think so?"

"It's love, Ulrich. The unconditional kind. That's what you're stuck with."

He laughed. He felt a little better.

"Now," Tabby leaned back in the bench, her expression one of apathy. "What's with this Faith character?"

"Huh? That. Odd's head over heels, if you were wondering."

"This creates tension for Tiffany and Odd, hmmm..."

"Is that why Tiffany seems to really hate her?"

"Tiffany doesn't hate her. She just kept getting in disagreements with Faith before she came to Kadic."

"What are you talking about?"

"You didn't know? Faith Burrell is Allianah Fray's cousin."

"They look nothing alike!"

"Well, Faith has changed a lot, according to Tiffany. Like her hair used to be light brown and she must have colored contacts or something now. And she's thinner, and she hasn't grown an inch. We never caught her name before, but it's her."

"What kind of disagreements?"

"Like Faith and Allianah had never even met or something, and Faith kept insisting that she and Allianah used to play in some sandbox or something, but Allianah had never even heard of her. Stupid little things like that."

"Oh."

They were quiet for a moment, and Tabby furrowed her brow. This was a little suspicious, now that she was actually thinking about it. She would probably look up this girl later or something.

A figure came walking by, its arms folded across its chest and its breath in ragged gasps.

"Take a guess at who that is." Tabby sighed, kissed Ulrich on the cheek, and ran off, thankful that the darkness covered her blush.

**(1) Tabby isn't there because she didn't come until after Allianah died.**

**Hmmm, yes, yes, yes, the plot thickens... interesting... Review? pleaaase?**


	13. Fight to the Finish

**Well, to the user "d-u" yah i cant use your ideas mainly because i already have the plot figured out (and im not trying to hurt your feelings) and if i add a lot of them ill mess up the plot i already have, etc. thanks anyway. your still loved. :D and Teh-Pwnerer, about number 41, that is going to be revealed. I was planning on putting it in a conversation that comes up during the "climax." (new word!!! i learned it in English Arts today!!! woot!) And have-a-cookie, i am very pleased you consider me better than history quizzes. (much love.) and i was thinking the same thing about how odd's dating XANA in a way, but i think she counts more of a daughter/creation type thingabob. haha. i had a dream last night, and have-a-cookie was in it. well, not her, technically, but like her fanfiction avatar. it was like floating in the sky and i was looking at it from my bed and i was like "why is have-a-cookie on my roof? omg wheres my roof?" lolz wow this authors note is longer than expected. sorry. XD**

"Change of plans, Faith," the screen clicked on, and she jumped slightly.

"Oh, Master! You startled me."

"We are changing the plan," he replied. Right before her eyes, one of the wrinkles on his cheeks deepened. He was getting pretty old.

"Really? What's going to happen now, Master?"

"The William is dead. Perfect. They're already upset over that. And the Jeremie is allowing the Odd and the Ulrich to come to Lyoko. You must convince the Odd to take you to Lyoko with them. After that, the groups will be somewhat connected. Just make sure the Tiffany winds up in the scanner and we will be perfectly set." A devious smiled played across his lips.

"Yes, Master, yes, of course!"

"I am going to activate a tower as soon as you are positioned near Odd. I will be possessing a student, and it will come after you. The Odd will have no choice but to take you with him to protect you."

"Brilliant, Master, ingenious!"

The screen clicked off.

**At Lunch...**

The text message came when they were halfway through with their lunches. Odd was about to get up when Faith grabbed his arm. "Where are you going?"

"What? I'll be right back. Me and Ulrich have to go do something." He kissed her cheek. "We'll be right back," he promised.

"But-" She turned around and uttered a high-pitched scream when a possessed student jumped on top of the table. He swung an arm at her, and she shrieked again.

Odd grunted in frustration and grabbed her hand. "Come on." He dragged her after Ulrich in the direction of the factory. Once they'd gotten just inside the trees, he let go of her hand and said, "Just wait here!"

"Don't _leave_ me!" She took hold of his upper arm, appalled.

"Erghh," Odd mumbled under his breath. He didn't even have the group's trust yet. And he would've been in trouble if he'd brought her to the factory even if none of this had ever happened. What was he going to do?

He glanced at the school, caught a glimpse of the approaching spectar, and grimaced before he took her hand and dragged her to the factory.

**Well, at the factory...**

"Odd!" Jeremie pulled at his hair. "What are you _thinking_?!"

"The spectar was targeting _her_, Einstein. I couldn't leave her there."

"That's fine. We'll just return to the past." Jeremie took a deep breath. "Now, get to the scanner."

Odd obeyed, but he saw quickly that, though Ulrich, Aelita, and Yumi (whose movements were half-hearted) were fighting perilously, they were clearly outmatched. He sucked in a breath. Six crabs, three Blocks, nine kankrelats, and fourteen Hornets. _We. Are. Doomed._

"Laser arrow!" He missed the eye of a Block. It had been too long since his last time on Lyoko; he didn't even remember it.

Ulrich glanced at Yumi. She looked so... _angry._ And hurt. You could see it in the way she tossed her fan. She was obviously still upset about what happened to William. He was, too, in a way. But when he thought of Yumi (and just how beautiful she was even though she would've cried if you could on Lyoko), it made him think of Tabby, and his face burned like he was blushing (except he couldn't blush on Lyoko, so it didn't show). She kissed him on the cheek! He shrugged one shoulder and shoved his katana through the eye of a block.

_It's not that big a deal_. He rolled his eyes, annoyed with himself. _Whatever. She's just a friend._ Bitter disappointment flooded through him when he saw Yumi devirtualize, and he was distracted just long enough for a crab to get to him.

"Odd! You've got twenty life points left!" Jeremie was practically in hysterics.

"Laser arrow!" It hit its mark; a kankrelat was eliminated and he quickly fired off two more shots, one of which missed entirely and another destroyed a hornet. There were now two crabs, a block, four kankrelats, and twelve hornets left. That wasn't even good odds when they actually had everyone on Lyoko.

"Augh!! No! Are you crazy?" Jeremie was yelling at someone else. "I don't care! I know-"

"Jeremie!" Aelita yelled just before a crab stuck her with a laser. Her life points were getting too low.

Odd grunted in frustration and nailed a hornet just before Jeremie said, "Aelita, this is your call. Ulrich thinks we should send Faith to Lyoko."

"What? Who's Faith?" She crouched down behind a boulder; a crab seemed to be looking for her.

"Odd's girlfriend. Apparently XANA has _some_ sort of interest in her, because he had a spectar targeting her, so Odd brought her here to keep her safe."

A kankrelat hit Odd in the arm; one more hit and he would be a goner.

"Send her, Jeremie. We don't have much time," Aelita replied reluctantly. _Under any other circumstance, we'd talk this over._ She thought. _But a spectar's on the loose and I'm not losing someone else._

Aelita shrieked and barely managed to move before a crab fired a laser at her. It hit the ground she'd been sitting on, and she ran to stand beside Odd.

"Las- Jeremie, I'm out!"

"Faith's coming, Odd. I don't have time to make her a card, so the computer is taking care of it. Just one more minute." There was a pause, during which a kankrelat cornered Odd and Aelita against the boulder. "Scanner Faith. Transfer Faith. Virtualization."

Odd and Aelita had to run in opposite directions to get around the kankrelat, and Faith landed bridal style in Odd's arms before he could set her down. Although the world was at stake, he couldn't help but pause and see how beautiful she was. Her streaked hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and she had two black cat ears atop her head. She had fangs, also, and seven inch long black and hot pink nails on her hands and feet. Her body was entirely covered in hot pink fur that had a few black spots all over it, and she had a long, fluffy tail. In short, she was a furrier (and slightly scarier) version of Odd.

She grinned at him, whipped around, and expertly shot three laser arrows and obliterated three hornets perfectly. _Where'd that come from_? Odd couldn't help but wonder. It was rather strange that she was so good without any sort of explanation. Odd glanced across the platform of the Mountain Sector. Aelita was making a break for the tower while Faith had the monsters distracted.

Odd watched in awe as she took out the monsters, calling something to him about Jeremie explaining how to shoot laser arrows and scratch with her claws. She was so sleek, so expert, as if she'd done this many time before. He couldn't help but smile, but growled under his breath when a hornet took him out. He'd let her distract him, but for some reason, he really didn't care right then.

He waited for Faith to appear at the scanner, and she stepped out smiling.

"We're going to return to the past now," he smiled.

"What's that?"

He took her hand. "Where we go back in time so that no one can remember what happened."

Her face fell. "So I won't remember?"

"You will, now that you have a card on the supercomputer. I'll explain more later."

"Okay," she pressed her lips to his just as they were engulfed in a white bubble.

**Later...**

"Oh, yes, Master! It's working just as you planned! No one suspects a thing!"

"Yes," the corner of his lip twitched, and he was once again dangerously close to his first smile. "So it is. I've been keeping an eye on the Tiffany. She's having much turmoil in emotion. She is still upset about the death of her friend, and the Odd and yourself are just making it worse." A growl came from deep in his throat, but it was one of glee, not menace.

"I know, Master, it's so fun!" She paused and then started to scowl. "But she met 41, remember? She and 41 fought all the time, so she distrusts me. I don't know how I'm going to get her in the scanner."

"What about the Odd?"

"She doesn't trust him, either, near as I can tell."

XANA's brows creased, and she was keenly aware of how the light brown of his eyebrows was tinged with gray. He was finally seeing flaw in his hand. "Then use force. I programmed you with strength. Whatever it takes."

"Of course, Master. It'll come together."

He muttered, "Rest now, 72. You have much to do." He switched off the WebChat, and she scowled at him.

Rolling her eyes, she mumbled, "My _name_ is Faith."

**o.O In-ter-es-ting...**

**I have a new favorite word. It's "whatnot" cuz its sooo awesome!! its like a compound word but cooler. XD**

**And I would like to make a quick note. See, the outcast-ish group seem to say "whats your damage" instead of "whats your problem" and i notice when people hang around with other people they generally pick up slang. thats why odd said it in the last chapter, for those of you who cant catch that.**

**Quote of the Day:**

**"A strong man fights to save himself. A stronger man fights to save others." -Unknown.**


	14. What Tabby Heard

**haha i read have-a-cookie's review again. lolz. im happy againnn. and to "d-u" well DUH i respect my reviewers opinions. whats the point of getting reviews if you dont care what the reviewer says? and its not that your ideas are bad (i actually like them). you should write your own fanfic. id totally read it. =D (Hey, Shiningheart of ThunderClan, I LOVE WARRIORS!!!!!! lolz.) Peter van Pickle- first off i love ur penname :D and yahh i knowww my chapters are short and pointless, but the main plot happens all at once so im hoping itll be better soon. Thank you Lord Mephisto!! :D**

The next day was uneventful. As was the one after that. On the third day, they announced that the perpetrator who had lit Kadic on fire was still unknown. And apart from Tiffany becoming more and more withdrawn, and Odd falling deeper and deeper for Faith, not much happened. Oh, except one thing.

"Oh- hello, Tiffany," Aelita glanced up, startled, as Tiffany settled down in the seat across from her. Jeremie didn't even look up from his laptop.

"Hey, Aelita," Tiffany replied, unsmiling. "Can I sit here?"

"Uh- sure. Yeah. Why?"

Tiffany settled into her seat and opened a bottle of Glaceau Vitamin Water. Jerking her head toward her usual table's direction, Aelita saw that Gwen, Mikey, and Tabby were absent from it (she didn't know this, but they were skipping school that day), and Odd and Faith were too wrapped up in each other to even realize Tiffany was gone. Jay and Sparky were pointedly looking away from each other.

"Not trying to be a burden," Tiffany sighed and sunk slightly in her chair. "Just didn't feel like sitting next to Odd and Faith's-" She made a circular motion toward the opposite table with her hand. "-that."

Aelita tried to smile. It had been harder for her to do that lately. "You're not a burden, Tiffany." She glanced around. "The table's just kind of empty." Looking at her tray, she blinked back tears. Jeremie had stopped typing for a second, but he continued on.

"Sorry about that," she pushed a memory of Allianah out of her mind. "Kind of a shame. He was hot."

Aelita's head snapped up and her eyes opened wide. "But Yumi-"

"Kidding." She paused. _Very different sense of humor._ "Well, yeah. You get my point."

Aelita nodded.

"God, I guess life is really sucking for everyone right now, isn't it?"

She didn't reply.

So anyway, that was really the main event that happened that entire week. Aelita and Tiffany weren't friends, just aquaintances, and Tiffany quickly decided that she was going to be skipping out on lunch for a while.

**Well, like, the next day after that week, so it was a Monday...**

_Oh, my God make it stoooooooopppp._

Tiffany pawed around with her hand for it, but she couldn't find it. It rang insistently. _Nooooo. Make it stoopppp..._

"Are you okay?" Tabby poked her hard in the ribs and turned off the alarm Tiffany had been desperately searching for.

"What?" Tiffany feigned sickness, her voice coming out distorted and scratchy.

"Are you ill?"

"Who the eff says 'ill' anymore?"

"Me. And if you're cutting school, just do it. Don't need to pretend."

"I'm not cutting. I'm _sick._"

"So go the nurse."

"No. I _hate_ her."

"You do not."

Tiffany heard the door close behind Tabby and she rolled over and fell back to sleep. Peter curled up next to her head.

**Well, like, later again, during Tabby's third period- which is a Research/Study Hall...**

Tabby remembered that suspicion, the suspicion in Tiffany's eyes when she told Tabby that Faith was Allianah's cousin. It raised uneasiness in her mind; by the millions of pictures of this Allianah chick she'd found in a shoebox under Tiffany's bed, she could see that the resemblence between Faith and Allianah was the fact that they were girls. Nothing else.

She thought of how Tiffany had said that Allianah insisted that she and Faith had never met before, how apparently the memories were only in Faith's head. It was also strange that this girl was all over Odd all the time, especially when Tiffany was around. It was like she didn't know about that old lady that died, even though she did. Maybe she was open and trusting and wanted to show off her boyfriend to every female on the planet, but it was still worth looking into.

First thing was first, so she googled Faith Burrell (she had no clue as to the girl's middle name). There was a Meghan Burrell and a Faith DeSantis and even a church group titled "Faith Can Save You" but there was no Faith Burrell whatsoever.

_Wow._ She herself wasn't that interesting, but she had two or three hits of her name on google. _This girl's got to have something._ So she typed in "Kadic Academy" next to Faith's name, and one thing popped up. All it said was that she was the latest name added to the roster. Growling under her breath, she glanced at the clock. She still had fifty minutes left. Plenty of time to find something.

A sudden thought struck her, and she googled Allianah's family tree. Her parents were descended from someone important (it was either Samuel Adams or George Washington, some famous Revolutionary War person) so the family tree wasn't too hard to find on her mother's side. She grazed through it. Her mother had a sister. Who had been dead for seventeen years.

Her father's side was a chore; it took her twenty-five minutes to find it, and it wasn't laid out as neatly as the mother's had been. She scrolled to the bottom, and her eyes widened. Allianah's father was an only child.

_That is so not even- but how could- then who is-?_ Her search became much more frantic, then, and the keys clicked loudly as she searched. _Think. Think. What could she have wanted? _If she wasn't related to Allianah, why would she have lied like that? Certainly she wouldn't have wanted to make friends with a dead-girl-walking. She took a deep breath and found Allianah's obituary. It listed so many names, all related to her. It didn't mention Faith.

She accidentally clicked the wrong link- a J instead of a B- and was about to go back when, by chance, she spotted the third name from the top in the list. _Isn't that-?_ She didn't even finish the thought before she clicked on Helen Johnson's name.

**Ooooh, wow, what's gonna happen? Nobody knows... well, I know, I'm the author, but anyway, around that same time, in Tiffany and Tabby's room...**

Tiffany had woken up and taken a quick shower and dressed in her usual clothing, minus her jacket, though it was gray and slightly drizzly outside. She wanted to go to the mall for a bit and relax, and she wanted to walk down the street with the wind numbing her arms and blowing through her layered hair. It would be a good time to think, to clear her head.

How wrong could a person be? That saying- what was it?- you never know what you have until it's gone. It was all she could think about. But it didn't matter, because though he'd made it clear that he liked her, she hadn't even realized how much she liked him until it was too late. And he was drifting farther and farther away from her and closer and closer to _Faith_. How could she be so afraid of losing what she never really had at all?

After she applied her eyeliner extra thick (she knew from watching him so intently that he hated her makeup, and it would feel good to make him squirm), she clicked her tongue and Peter scurried across the floor and up onto her shoulder. Pecking him on the top of his golden head, she opened a container of his food and fed him before she refilled his water container with water. She left him while he ate.

She was walking toward the exit of Kadic when she heard someone calling around. Turning around slowly, she saw Faith hurrying forward, free of her permanent attachment to Odd's side.

"Hey, Tiffany! I've been looking all over for you!"

"Interestingly enough," she kept her tone cold. She was not about to let herself become friends with this psycho. A strand of her hair kept hitting her in the face, so she tucked it behind her ear. Faith had gotten smart and pulled her streaked hair into a tight ponytail. _Stupid perfect person._ She pretended she was pulling on Faith's ponytail, pulling, pulling, pulling... and it came right off. She pretended Faith was bald, and Odd had seen her pull the wig off...

"Hey! Are you even listening to me?" Faith's voice, slightly annoyed, brought her back to the present.

"No," she answered honestly.

Faith shrugged it off. "I have something to show you. You're really going to like it."

"Actually, I was just going to-"

"Come _on._ You'll love it, I promise. It's really cool." Before Tiffany could argue, Faith grabbed her upper arm in a surprisingly strong grip and started dragging her to the woods. She could've walked on her own, but Faith seemed unaware that she was dragging Tiffany along.

Tiffany had never been strong. She wasn't a weakling or anything, but she wasn't the type of person that got in fist fights every time she got mad. She usually just snapped and walked away, and others generally left her alone. Which is what led her to think of a time when Tabby had air-tackled a boy she didn't know in the middle of History because he threw a peice of paper that said something obscene on it at her. She'd gotten into so much trouble, but she had later stated it was totally worth it.

"Okay, Faith, you're ripping my arm off."

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" It wasn't sarcastic; the words were sincere.

"It's- okay?" She replied akwardly, then paused. She'd only met Faith once, and she hadn't even caught her name. It was the day before Allianah died. She had changed a lot, but just by the face she could tell it was her.

Tiffany looked down at a manhole and was about to exclaim something about how disgusting and wrong the whole idea of that was when Faith grabbed her arm and pulled her down anyway. _Well, if Ms. Perfect can do it, I have to._ She followed the girl down to the sewer, but it was surprisingly a lot cleaner than she'd expected. The tunnel ahead was long and dark, and Faith seemed to know exactly where they were going. They walked out of another opening.

"Uh- Faith? Where exactly are we going?"

Faith's tone dripped with affection. "Somewhere wonderful." A factory loomed in the distance, its color sharp in contrast to the gray skies.

**With Tabby...**

When she'd looked at Helen's obituary, it made her wonder... the first time Faith had taken an interest in someone, it was in Allianah. Who died. So now her seemingly innocent interest in Odd seemed like it could be a bit more sinister. If it kept Odd safe, it was worth looking into, even if it wasted precious time.

She was flipping through page after page after page of the same information when she finally googled Helen Johnson and found a website created in her memory. _Interesting..._ It was a long shot, but she clicked on it anyway.

_Two extremely irresponsible young boys took away a loving, important person to many on the night of October 31..._ She rolled her eyes and clicked on "Helen's Last Days." The photos were pictures of Helen's family grieving over her. _How cruel. Taking pictures of mourning people._ Each picture had a caption beneath it, listing the family member. Except the one at the bottom, which simply read "Helen and her granddaughter," at which point she gasped.

She'd never believed people actually gasped until then. She just thought it was an addition to TV shows that needed more suspense. But that moment made a firm believer out of her, because the picture was of Helen Johnson. And her granddaughter was apparently named Faith Burrell.

"The bell has rung," the computer lab teacher tapped her on the shoulder and she knearly jumped a foot, her knee smashing against the desk violently. She winced with pain, exited the web browser, and limped off. "You forgot your backpack!" The teacher called, but she was long gone.

_I have to tell Tiffany. I've got to tell Tiffany. Something really messed up is going on here._

She really had no idea.

**Dun dun dunnnnnn.**

**OMGNESS!!! What's happening neeeeeeext? You will totally not expect it. There's just no way. =D Review. The next chapter is all worked out in my head so it shouldn't take too long to write out. And to Teh-Pwnerer (who gets the authors note at the bottom because the one at the top is too long) if you look at the way she thinks toward XANA being old (i forget what chapter), you should probably notice that she doesnt like him much in the first place. XP And I love "outwith" too!! compound words kick normal words' butt!!!**

Quote of the Day:

**"Time, you are so beautiful when you stop." -Shaman King, Chapter 45, Page 18.**


	15. Perfect Nightmare

**Lolz, thank you, Peter van Pickle. The main reason my chapters are like that is because I like my OCs to have personality. Mary Sues make me crazy and I hate it when my characters turn out that way. And "d-u" you are welcome to give me an idea, but honestly there's no garuantee I'll use it, because I already know my next fanfic. But I'll let you know if I can fit it in because I haven't really even started the plot to that one, so I'll probably be able to use it. To have-a-cookie: I thought about that, too, so I put it into the story because XANA really didn't think anyone would be suspicious of Faith at all, because she's so "perfect." He really never even thinks about Tabby. XP she must be unspecial. Teh-Pwnerer: hmmm interestingly enough I always have typos, even when I proofread. It must be my minor programming errors. I will talk to Master about that. (jk!!!) lolz. AGHH SCARY ORANGE MUFFIN!!!! XD omg rotflmao. and, yes, i prefer Faith to be rather disloyal because, really, as much as she and XANA want to believe it, NOBODY is perfect. lol. I'm strangely attached to Faith- I think she's the least Mary Sue-ish character I've ever made. If that makes any sense to any of you. XD Lord Mephisto, prepare to live. and Shiningheart of Thunderclan- I'll read your stories after school today since I'm updating in the morning. XD lolz. and no, i guess xana didn't no what she was up to. i think he was preoccupied because he wants to kill tiffany. its all explained in this chapter. anyway, on with the story (after a needlessly long authors note.)**

"Hey, Tabby," Odd had been wandering around the courtyard rather aimlessly, but upon seeing Tabby he stopped and offered a smile. "Have you seen Faith?"

"Oh, yeah, I was just going to find her."

Odd stopped and frowned. Tabby's usual bored expression was absent from her face; her frows were creased and the right corner of her mouth was turned down.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Odd, I'm fine," she told him impatiently. "C'mon. Let's find Faith. Any idea where she might be? We really need to talk."

"What's so important?"

"Stop being so nosy!" She snapped, rubbing her temples. "Can't you send your stupid dog after her or something?"

"Kiwi isn't a bloodhound."

Tabby took out her phone to reply to a text message, and Odd took out his own to talk to Faith. She didn't reply to him, so he sighed.

"Where could she be, Odd? This is serious. I really, really need to talk to her." Tabby typed in **where are you?** and sent it to Tiffany's number. The reply came back almost instantly. **faith is showing me this wierd factory. she says theres something i have to see? idk. ttyl.** "Ohmigod," Tabby mumbled.

"You look kind of flushed, Tabby, are you sure you're alright?"

"Okay, Odd," Tabby put her phone away. "This is really, really important."

"What are you talking about."

"You're- _Faith_- is not who she's saying she is."

"What are you talking about?!" He took a step back. _No way._ There was no way such a perfect girl could lie about anything! She was the closest to falling in love that he'd ever been, and Tabby was accusing her of _lying_ to him?! _Wait a minute..._ "Are you just trying to hook me up with Tiffany? Because I tried it with her. She didn't like me back then, so she can live."

"Get _over_ yourself!" Tabby was about to slap him, but she knew it wouldn't help her reason with him. "I'm not messing around, Odd. Something really wierd is going on and Faith is lying to us about everything."

"What do you mean?"

_We don't have time for this!_ "Odd, Faith Burrell is supposed to be Allianah's cousin."

"I know that."

"Let. Me. Finish." She took a deep breath. "But this whole time Tiffany hasn't trusted her, because Allianah had no idea who she was."

_Well, Tiffany's not very good at trusting, now, is she?_

"I looked it up, Odd, just now. Tiffany's mom had a sister who'd been dead for seventeen years. And I'm pretty sure Faith's not thirty, so she had to have come from her father's side, right?"

"Right?"

"_Wrong_, Odd. Completely wrong. Faith's father was an only child."

"What are you _saying_?" Odd's tone shot up three octaves, but Tabby pressed on.

"I'm not done yet, Odd. Helen Johnson supposedly had a granddaughter. Her name was Faith Burrell."

"I-"

"But Helen Johnson only had one son- and he was gay."

"But-"

"Both Allianah and Helen recieved visits from Faith the day before they died."

"I- I-" He took a deep breath and regained his composure. "What are you thinking?"

"I think you know exactly what I'm thinking, Odd."

_This is a nightmare. This is an absolute nightmare. This is not happening._ "It can't-"

"Now, I'm pretty sure you care about Tiffany, much as you seem to be denying it." Her ice blue eyes were cold. "And right now Faith-" She whipped out her keyboard-style phone and showed him the text she'd gotten from Tiffany. "-is taking Tiffany to a factory somewhere. Do you know where it is?"

_Oh, my God._ Odd nodded wearily, took out his cell phone, and texted everyone else. They each agreed to meet up at the factory with him, and he turned to Tabby. "Follow me."

**Moments after that shocking installment...**

"Are you sure it's safe in here, Faith?" Tiffany glanced around. This factory was obviously abandoned; it was the kind the city should tear down. And such a long drop below...

"Yeah, we're good. Come on, this is really cool!" Faith motioned toward several ropes hanging from the ceiling. "Just swing down. It'll be fine." Faith ran forward, grabbed a rope, swung, and landed on the ground gracefully.

_Maaaannnn. If she can do it, I'm going to have to._ Faith did the same, her landing more wobbly. Her eyes narrowed into the darkness, and Faith led her into an elevator.

She tried not to squeal as the rickety elevator slid to a stop. Faith typed in some sort of passcode, and the door opened to reveal a large computer with a sort of hologram floating near it. Tiffany stepped toward it. She could make out little mountains, a few trees... she went touch a tree to see if her hand would slide through, and Faith hissed, "Don't touch anything." After clicking a few buttons on the keyboard, she led Tiffany back to the elevators and they traveled down a few stories.

"What are you showing me, exactly?" Tiffany's stomach had tightened into a knot. This did not feel right.

"Get in that, Tiffany, hurry." She pointed to a large yellow cylinder. "It's called a scanner. It's going to be really cool."

"I'm not going in there until you tell me what's going to happen," she insisted crossly.

"Augh!" Faith ran forward and tackled Tiffany- hard.

The wind was gone from her body for a second before she started to struggle. _How can she be this strong? She doesn't have any meat on her at all!_

"I- have- worked- too hard- for you to ruin this- for me- Tiffany!" Faith's perfect, manicured nails dug into Tiffany's shoulders, and she cursed loudly, trying to throw the smaller girl off of her. They rolled a few times before Faith stood up, forcing Tiffany to stand, too. They were wrestling together when the elevator started to make rumbling noises.

"God dammit!" Faith was screaming incoherently. "Just get in the scanner!"

"Aughh!" Tiffany's knees were hurting. Just two more feet and this crazy person would have her locked in a metal tube. What would happen to her then? "Get off me!"

"Faith! Tiff-" Odd's voice echoed in Tiffany's ears, and it only made her struggle harder.

In a second, someone's hands were trying to pry them away from each other. She was shocked to realize Odd's hands were around her waist and he was trying to drag her away from Faith, while Tabby was clawing at the other girl's face.

"Tiff- Tiffany!" Tabby huffed. She'd taken Tiffany's place in this wrestling match. "She- killed Allianah!"

It felt like her heart had stopped, though she knew it hadn't. _What did she say?_

"Are you okay?" Odd's eyes were filled with so much horror, his arms around her shoulders.

_No. No, no, no. I am not okay._ "I'm fine, Odd, stop it." She pushed him away. He looked at her then; she was dazed, and he was afraid she might throw up or faint.

They were brought back to the present when Tabby cried out. Faith had thrown her off- right into the scanner. Tabby swore, and the doors to the scanner closed.

"What did you do?!" He rounded on Faith.

She was sitting on the ground, laughing. _Laughing._

Odd was disgusted. Was this the girl he'd almost loved? How could he have been so fooled? "Who _are_ you?!"

She stopped laughing then. "When I was born- no. That's not the word. I was _created_- he called me 72. Because I came seventy-second. But I'm perfect. I'm Faith Burrell, Odd, that's who I really am!"

"Who created you?"

The elevator rumbled and Aelita, Ulrich, Yumi, and Jeremie stepped out of it.

"What? Master did. Master, of course!" Her voice was girlishly high.

"What's going on here?" Aelita asked timidly. She glanced at Tiffany, who was trying to pry open a scanner. At Odd, who was screaming at Faith- who was laughing maniacally.

"Who the _hell_ is 'Master'?"

"You call him XANA," she rolled her eyes. "Dreadful old thing. He really is old, though. But that's okay. This whole time, he thought _he'd_ get to rule the world. Nope. I'm perfect, he saw to that. I'm _so_ perfect, Odd!"

Odd stepped forward, as if he were about to strike her, and Ulrich stepped between them. "What's going on?" He stared hard at Odd. He'd seen that look before. Wild, scared, as if everything had just been ripped out from under him. The last time he saw it in Odd's eyes was the day they were sentenced to Juvenile Hall.

"She- killed- Allianah Fray. And Helen Johnson." Odd's eyes were tight with rage.

"_What?_" Jeremie looked at him like he was crazy.

"She's a product of XANA," Odd's voice was cold.

**With Tabby...**

"Where am I?" She mumbled, straining to open her eyes.

It was like she was floating, floating... surrounded by nothing but a sea of white.

"Wrong girl," a disapproving voice boomed around her. "Wrong girl. Nevertheless..."

A sickening pain enveloped her, and she crumpled into a ball, hyperventilating.

"Wrong girl..."

**Back On Earth...**

"No, no, listen to me, listen to me," Faith stood up. "XANA's old. He's dying. This Franz Hopper knew he might get crazy. So he programmed XANA to age. Once XANA had aged enough, he'd die. He's human that way. But no way else." She was still giggling. "Grumpy old badger. He's crazy, he is." Right then it seemed she was crazy, pacing around the room, laughing. "So XANA will die. Eventually." She pointed at Aelita. "Bad for you, ha ha. When he dies, so do you, right? So you're gonna dieee..." She skipped happily, as if excited. "But I'm thirteen forever. Old enough to know better, too young to care. I'm gonna take over the world!"

"So he made a plan. A plan to shatter you. William died for it. _She_-" She pointed a finger at Tiffany, who was scratching at the scanner. "-was supposed to die, too. So now I'm in trouble. Thanks a lot. Tabby had to butt in."

"Where's Tabby now?" Ulrich took on a dark tone.

"Dying," Faith flashed a perfect smile at him and went on. "But it doesn't matter! Because he can't do anything to me now! He set himself up for this- sends me to Earth to do his will and then expects me to be an obediant lapdog? He can't touch me now!" Her voice was high pitched and hysterical and she started to scream at the roof. "Hear that, _Master_? What can you do to me now?"

"She's crazy," Ulrich stepped back, dazed, and walked over to help Tiffany.

"I didn't killed Alli-a-nah!" She sang, hot pink eyes glowing red. "I really didn't! It was 41!"

"Who's 41?" Jeremie looked around, as if 41 might pop out somewhere.

"She came before me. She proved she could kill. She had to. To kill Allianah. She had to kill Allianah Fray. It was easy. Tiffany would be broken up over that. Very good. But she wasn't perfect enough. After she killed her, she went crazy. Crazier than the old man, even. Crazy. Crazy. Crazyyyyy. Had a meltdown. Very bad. Not perfect. After that, it took him thirty-one more tries to create me. Number 72. I'm perfect."

"From there, it was easy. Hack into the criminal justice database and give Odd and Ulrich six months for a crime they never truly commited," her eyes were bright. "The small third-grade girl that jumped in front of Helen's car? Number 58. She came out too small for anything except that. It was all too easy. The little out-casty group would be the only ones that would accept them after that. Aren't they nice? It was all too simple. Let Odd and Tiffany like each other a bit, and then I come in. Breaking Tiffany off. I'm perfect, so he knew Odd would like me. Tiffany would be crushed, and Odd would feel guilty when she died."

"There was of course the matter of poisoning the two. Nobody would think to byopsy the bodies- considering it would always be obvious _how_ they had died. We wouldn't have to worry about anything of the sort. It wall all going according to plan up until five minutes ago. That dumb Tabby just had to get in the way!" She pointed at the scanner just as it opened, and Ulrich managed to catch Tabby when she was inches from the ground.

"Tabby? Tabetha?" Tiffany shook Tabby. Tabby's breathing was barely there, and it was coming to a slow stop.

"Now that I failed Master," Faith walked over and sat down next to Tabby's limp body. "I can't go back. This complicates my plot for world domination, but that's alright." She patted Tabby's forehead, and Ulrich uncharacteristically shoved her roughly away.

"Oh, betrayal," a bemused voice boomed from the loudspeaker, and every person in the room jumped. "Silly little 72."

"I'm Faith!" She was practically rolling on the floor in anguish. "I'm Faith! I'm Faith! I'm Faith!"

"Shut up, you little traitor!"

Faith's body gave a violent jerk and went limp. She was dead.

"Tabby! Tabby!" Tiffany was whimpering. Tabby was gone, too.

**OMG.**

**It's overrr!!!  
**

**Well, this chapter is. There's one more chapter after this. It's a sort of epilogue. Sorry! This story is almost over!!! =[= I'm happy and sad!!! D:D I can't decide!! Review, it'll make me happy!!  
**

**P.S. weren't expecting that, now, were you? i mean, with tabby and faith dying and whatnot?**


	16. Sweet Charity

**mkayy, last chapter! =[= k- "d-u" asked me to explain how i lay out a story. in all honesty, most of my stories- when i start them- dont have much of a plot. i just decide what its mainly going to be about (aka: climax and events leading up to it) and then for the first two or three chapters i just go with the flow until i see which direction the story is going in. this method is not reccomended. its rare for me to finish a story. XD anyway, on with the final chapter; its sort of an epilogue. sorta kinda. just read.**

_**The dawn is breaking**_

_**A light shining through**_

_**You're barely waking**_

_**And I'm tangled up in you**_

_**Yeah**_

After a return to the past and some careful planning, the group managed to make Tabby's death look entirely coincidental and unrelated to that of William's. And looking through a few things later, all records that Faith Burrell ever existed at all were wiped clean. No body, and the only memories of her were inside the heads of the people connected to Lyoko. Tiffany didn't forget what had happened after the return to the past, and she remained shut up in her room the rest of the week.

_**But I'm open, you're closed**_

_**Where I follow, you'll go**_

_**I worry I won't see your face**_

_**Light up again**_

A dance **(1)** was held that Friday, even though Tabby was gone. Everyone was too upset about William's death to really notice Tabby had died, except the faculty, and a newspaper peice was written about it. Tabby's death would stump doctors; her perfectly healthy heart had stopped on its own.

**Anyway, that Friday...**

_**Even the best fall down sometimes**_

_**Even the wrong words seem to rhyme**_

_**Out of the doubt that fills my mind**_

_**I somehow find, you and I collide**_

Tiffany was sitting on her bed, staring at the other half of the room. The messy black bedsheets, the round, plush black rug next to the bed. Her black lamp, a pair of her pajamas half on the bed and half off. It was as if she'd walk through the door in a moment, texting her mom.

But it didn't happen, partly because her phone was clutched tightly in Tiffany's left hand. She could hear the music from the dance from where she sat. As far as she knew, Ulrich was going with Yumi and Gwen was going with Mikey (Sparky was tagging along to try and win Gwen back), but no one else wanted to go. She wondered where Odd was.

_**I'm quiet, you know**_

_**You make a first impression**_

_**I've found I'm scared to know**_

_**I'm always on your mind**_

Like clockwork, there was knock on the door. She hesitated, then called softly, "Come in." Peter had been laying next to the door, but he jumped up and scampered under the bed when a certain purple-clad boy stepped through the threshold, the door closing quietly behind him.

He sat beside her, and they didn't say anything for a moment. Odd finally broke the silence. "I haven't seen you much this week." He looked at her face, but her green eyes were resting on the opposite half of the room. Her thick, dark eyeliner was absent from her face, and he decided she looked better with it on.

"Busy," she finally mumbled, her grip on the phone tightening.

_**I'm quiet, you know**_

_**You make a first impression**_

_**I've found I'm scared to know**_

_**I'm always on your mind**_

"Look... I owe you an apology. This whole thing is my fault."

"Is not." She took a deep breath. "It's my fault. I shouldn't have been so mean to you when you first became our friend."

"No, you had a right to. I was horrible to you before." He frowned. He'd come in here perfectly ready to have all the blame placed on him, but Tiffany seemed content to despair in this room, feeling sorry for herself.

"Stop it, Odd. I don't want to fight with you." She tore her eyes away from the opposite side of the room and stared down at the black keyboard phone. Her knuckles had turned white around it. The tears finally spilled over.

_**Even the best fall down sometimes**_

_**Even the stars refuse to shine**_

_**Out of the back you fall in time**_

_**You somehow find, you and I collide**_

"I-" He tried to think of something to say, but before he had to, her arms were around his neck and she was sobbing quietly into his shoulder. He sighed, and he locked his fingers together in the small of her back. Her tears had ceased by twenty minutes later, but neither of them moved.

He breathed in the scent of her hair- it smelled like a lake does before the fish start to die- and sighed. Much as she wanted him to think it wasn't his fault, he was too used to being responsible for someone else's death. He'd probably blame himself for the rest of his life.

His phone went off, and she shifted away from him. Taking it out, he glanced at the screen. **i miss you. xoxo.** The message was from his mother. He smiled and sighed again, and she laughed lightly, the sound breaking in her throat. Then her eyes made it back to the other side of the room.

_**Don't stop here**_

_**I've lost my place**_

_**I'm close behind**_

"Do you know why I'm in here, right now?" She asked him.

"You've been in here all week."

"No," she replied, her green eyes blinked slowly, then turned to him. "I'm getting a new roommate. Tabby's mom wants me to clean up her half of the room and give it to charity. She's not even getting off her tour of the world."

He didn't quite know how to respond, so he finally said, "I'm sorry."

She turned to him, the red, green, and white of her eyes making it look almost Christmassy, and smiled. "It's okay."

_**Even the best fall down sometimes**_

_**Even the wrong words seem to rhyme**_

_**Out of the doubt that fills your mind**_

_**You finally find, you and I collide**_

At the dance, Sparky was sitting alone, his elbows on his knees, leaning forward. He'd really messed up with Gwen, and there she was- dancing with his ex-best-friend, her body pressed right up against his...

He shook his head. Didn't want to be pissed right now. What about Tiffany? He hoped she was okay. He hadn't talked to her since before Tabby had... Shaking his head again, he took out his wallet and stared at the picture inside. She was beautiful; her blond hair, her brown eyes. Very photogenic. He'd never taken a bad picture of her, and there never could be one.

He glanced to the right of the slow-dancing couple; he recognized Jeremie Belpoi and Aelita (was it Stones? He couldn't be sure). He'd have thought the two would be in their rooms, too, but they were there. They's showed up. He looked at the picture of the girl and sighed, leaning back.

_**You finally find **_

_**You and I collide**_

Back in Tiffany's room, Tiffany had pressed her lips to Odd's (several times, but I'm not giving any details), and she finally sat back, her eyes on the other half of the room yet again. _I don't think I can do it._

"She'll be here soon, won't she? Your new roommate?" His fingers seemed to fit perfectly in the spaces between her's, and she sighed inwardly.

"Okay," she told him, and they stood up to clean out Tabby's half of the room.

_**You finally find **_

_**You and I collide**_

**Wow. Lamest last chapter ever.**

**Anyway, thank you to everyone who reviewed, especially "have-a-cookie", "d-u", and "teh-original-pwnerer", etc. There are too many to remember right off the top of my head. Thanks, you guys. If you hadn't been reviewing, I would have given up on this a long time ago.**

**I can't say I'm pleased with the way this story turned out (but I never like anything I write anyway), but thanks anyway. Watch out for my next fanfic; it's coming out soon. Titled "Wings Of An Angel." Should be up ASAP. I've almost got the first chapter done.**

**Anyway. Thank you all. =] Much love!!!**


	17. One Year

**Hi. I hate the old ending. I just hate it. So here's a new one. The "real" last chapter. I swearz this time. XD Oh, yeah. Shiningheart of ThunderClan- thanks a lot. that seriously helps my self-esteem. Much love to have-a-cookie, teh_original_pwnerer, Lord Mephisto, etc.**

Today was going to be a very bad day. Odd knew it the moment he opened his eyes and realized the date.

He dressed slowly, and (since it was Saturday), walked to Tiffany and Meena's room. Meena was a sweet, shy girl whose subconcious tormented her; she often woke up screaming or slept walked, yelling while she walked down the halls. She was keeping everyone up.

He smiled, but inside he was still worried. There was no way today could be any good.

He changed his mind the moment her door opened and he saw her, dressed casually in her usual outfit with her eyeliner (laid on thick, no matter how much he tried to persuade her not to) and her ponytail slightly off-center.

"Happy Halloween?" She said it uncertainly, and he pecked her cheek before he took her hand.

"Sure you don't want to go to the dance?" He asked her.

She rolled her eyes. "No one to go there with."

Appalled, he retorted, "Well, there is me."

"Please. Mikey and Sparky are still fighting over Gwen and they're all going. Jay's not even here this week. Ulrich and Yumi are giving out candy at Yumi's door."

"What about..." But he couldn't figure any reason to convince her to go, and he didn't even want to go that much himself.

"So, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know. What do you want to do?"

He sighed, exasperated. "Just pick something."

"I don't want to do anything."

"Why noooooot?"

At that moment a girl walked by, her dark curls wisping behind her, brown eyes angled down and her cheeks sulken. There was dark circles under her eyes, but she brightened as soon as she saw them. "Hey, guys!"

"Hi, Meena," Tiffany forced a smile, and Meena sauntered off, her face as dull and depressed as before.

"Maybe she's trying to get some sleep?"

"Gee, I wish _I_ could get some sleep."

They were silent for a minute, and somehow managed to get on the trail in the forest. Tiffany knew everything of Lyoko, but she absolutely refused to go there. The idea that something like Faith could come from that cylinder made her more than reluctant to step inside.

"Sure you don't want to go to the dance?"

She twisted a strand of her ponytail with her free hand. "Love you, too."

He smirked and they didn't need to say anything else.

**With Ulrich and Yumi...**

It was really too easy for him and Yumi to fit together. They really were meant to be from the start, after all, and she understood him even better now that he'd lost someone, too.

It was her turn to answer the door, so she got up with a bowl of assorted candies and left him sitting on her couch. Her parents and Hiroki had gone trick-or-treating, and they were in her house alone.

Had it really been a year since it had happened? Had it really been a year since everything had gone wrong (and sort of right)? He tried to think of the positives and negatives of the whole thing. If the accident had never happened, he and Yumi might not be together because William might still be alive. Faith would never have existed (in everyone's memory, she already technically didn't exist, but still). Odd and Tiffany might still hate each other. He would have never met Tabby. But Tabby might not have died, but it wouldn't have mattered as much because he wouldn't know her so...

He lost the thought when Yumi pressed her lips against his and sat down beside him. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pressed his lips to her hair, inhaling the sweet scent. They went back to watching the Halloween Fright Fest movie.

_A whole year. I guess time passes, even for us._ With that, he kissed her forehead, and the doorbell rang, but neither of them got up.

**There. That's the real ending. I'm more satisfied with this one than I was with the other one. Hah. idk, there MIGHT be elbow room for a sequel. I'd have to think about it. =] Review?**


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